


Gone to the Dogs (and Rabbits)

by eievuiisms



Series: Another Way verse [3]
Category: Sam & Max
Genre: (basically half of this is Hell while the other half is just rlly soft & fluffy), (does contain refs to mother tongue & has minor spoilers to it but its fine lol), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Body Horror, Car Accidents, Comedy, Comfort, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Electrocution, Experimentation, Fire, Fluff, Hostage Situations, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, M/M, Medical equipment, Original Character Death(s), Physical Abuse, Raising kids, Recovery, Supernatural Elements, Temporary Amnesia, Unethical Experimentation, child endangerment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 152,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26158966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eievuiisms/pseuds/eievuiisms
Summary: Borrowing elements from the cartoon episode, "A Glitch In Time" and set exactly 5 years, 3 months and 23 days after the events of "Another Way", Sam and Max have been having quite the busy life - especially now that they're supernatural abominations to nature! However, when an incident involving time travel leaves Max in a terrible facility and Sam with amnesia, they are once again thrown into an odd adventure that will take their life in a new direction that they'd least expected.(Special credit to calliepeepers for co-writing the AU & beta reading!!)
Relationships: Max/Sam (Sam & Max)
Series: Another Way verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871665
Comments: 12
Kudos: 88





	1. One Second Later

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read "Another Way" first, then I'd recommend you do that. Otherwise, things may get pretty confusing here!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max help Mama Bosco with a new device she's been working on, and things go terribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit (07/09/2020): edited some dialogue between sam & max + mama bosco regarding sam's empathetic response to give it more clarity

“Awfully nice of Mama Bosco t’ come invite us to her new place, isn’t it Max?” the dog said as he was just pulling in the DeSoto across the street from said building.

“Yeah, but look at the _location!_ ” Max replied, an arm leaning on the sill of the window, his pink eyes looking around.

“What are ya’ talkin’ about? This is a step up from her old place. Hell, it’s probably on par with the office, if not better.”

“But is it on par with the _house?_ ” he asked, a wide smile appearing on his features.

Sam couldn’t help but laugh. Not too long ago, Max had found out that he had inherited his great-grandpa, Maximus’ old house and the two had decided to make the switch from living in their office full-time to inside the house. And with the move still fresh, they were both admittedly on the euphoric side - but Max especially. After all, it was his _great-grandfather’s_ house! And they got to _live_ in it!

The dog patted his husband’s spotted head between his ears, and said, “Certainly glad you’re likin’ it, li’l pal.” He retracted his hand to open his door. “Just make sure ya’ leave her room t’ share what she called us over for, alright?”

“What _was_ it she wanted t’ show us other than her new place?” Max asked, getting out as well.

“Dunno. She wanted t’ keep it a surprise.”

“I hope it’s a weapon of destruction,” he said as he grabbed onto Sam’s ringed hand. “Preferably of the _mass_ variety.”

“Oh, c’mon, Max,” the dog was saying as they started crossing the street. “You know that sorta thing ain’t up her alley.”

“Well, duh.” The lagomorph then gestured to the alleyway right next to the building, and joked, “She’s only got dumpsters and pigeons down there!”

That earned another laugh from the dog. “You crack me up li’ budd-” The two were just barely reaching the opposite side of the street when a van of some sort came tearing down the street, nearly catching Sam’s tail in the process. “Great Toretto burning rubber in a Luton Box, did ya’ see that?”

“Almost missed it! They were almost goin’ faster than you were, Sam!” He then added, with emphasis and a pointed index finger, “ _Almost_.”

“A second later, and I may as well have been a pancake lying on the pavement. And not in a good way.”

“Ah, New York - gotta love the constant threat of bein’ hit loomin’ over your head.”

Despite the random close call, however, they entered the building without much of another thought, and were met with a more pristine, pastel-coloured interior, as opposed to the darker, more gothic appearance of the previous place. There were a couple of people seemingly working on some sort of renovation just down the hallway, but instead, they took a turn towards the elevator that was lined up neatly on the wall neatly, with a nice border of white framing it. Sam pressed the down button, entered with Max just behind him when it opened, pressed another button, and then the doors shut. 

A few moments later, they were greeted by a lab that was just as large as the previous one, but more well-lit and appeared more sterilized, with a look that seemed less cold and lab-like and a little more inviting. Naturally, various machines lined the room, with tables and counters with empty vials and half-finished projects and blueprints, and a sitting area somewhere off in the corner away from the busyness of the rest of the laboratory. 

And in the center of it all, of course, was Doctor Mama Bosco herself, dressed with her usual lab coat, which was buttoned closed, black gloves and goggles. She was sitting on a stool at one of the counters, hunched over a tiny object with a tiny screwdriver in hand, her tongue sticking out and brows furrowed in her concentration.

“Hey, good lookin’!” came Max’s humorous greeting, giving a wave as well.

The woman looked up from what she was doing at once, and a bright smile appeared on her features, pulling her goggles from her eyes to her forehead. “Hey, guys! So glad you’re here!”

“Glad t’ be invited!” Sam replied pleasantly.

“How do ya’ like the lobby? It’s still a bit of work-in-progress, but-?”

“It looks nice!”

“ _Very_ easy on the eyes,” Max chimed in.

“So glad you said that - I tried to keep it to yellows and blues for you guys. I know how you’ve mentioned some colours look weird otherwise, so I tried to make it colourblind-friendly.”

“Aw,” the dog said, smiling, “That’s considerate of ya’.”

“Here, lemme get you some chairs so you can sit here-” She hopped off her own stool, pocketing the object she was working on as she did so, and as she went to fetch a couple more, she said, “Do you boys want anything to drink? Coffee, milk, water - anything?”

“Nah, we’re pretty good, here,” Max replied.

The lady soon brought the stools over to the opposite side of the counter, and while the two took their seat, she returned to her own, and leaned her elbows on the counter, her hands folded, and an excited, eager expression on her face. “So, what have you two been up to? I feel like I haven’t spoken to you in for _ever_.”

“Well,” Sam started, glancing over at his partner, “For starters, we got a house that we just moved into.”

“Oh, congrats! It’s your first one, right?”

“Yup. Max’s great-grandpa left it for ‘im.”

“It’s so neat,” Max started saying. “It’s got a _sword_ room. A _sword_ room! And it has a whole basement underneath it - almost looks like a makeshift lab or somethin’. Though, not nearly as nice as yours,” he threw in as a compliment.

She gave a small laugh. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, it is super roomy in there,” Sam said. “Might need t’ clean out all of his old conspiracy notes, though.”

“Oh, nonsense!” the lagomorph replied. “I think the half-crazed notes with the swords mounted on the wall give it a certain _je ne sais quoi_.”

Sam could only shake his head in amusement at just how badly Max botched the pronunciation of those words. “Whatever ya’ say, li’l buddy.” He crossed a leg over his opposite knee, and said, “Anyway, yeah, we’ve been doin’ more swordfighting than unpacking.”

“Procrastination comes in many forms,” Max said with a nod. “And recreating the ‘My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die’ scene with actual swords is one of ‘em.”

“Well, sounds like you two have been having a pretty good time with that,” Mama Bosco said.

“We also went on a road trip,” Sam mentioned. “Max was king for a day. Fun up until the part they wanted t’ kill us.”

“Sam threw someone off of a clock tower!”

“I sure did. Oh, and Zeus might have fused my ghost to my body as a thanks for fixing his crumbling marriage.”

The scientist blinked at that, and tilted her head slightly in curiosity. “And how’s that been?”

“It’s been...kinda weird. I’m not just randomly floatin’ out of my body anymore.”

“Implying you were floating out of your body...before?”

“I was pretty good at hidin’ it.”

“Wait, wait, wait, get this,” Max said, a snicker in his tone. “Sam does this thing where when he’s _especially_ in love with me, he starts glowing. It’s the _best_.”

Sam, taken somewhat off-guard by the mention but not entirely surprised, cleared his throat, readjusting his tie. “Just t’ make it clear,” he said, “It’s not _just_ based on romantic feelings. It’s happened for completely platonic reasons as well.”

To that, the lagomorph crossed his arms and said teasingly, “Now did I _say_ it was only romantic, Sammothy? No.”

“I’m just makin’ sure she understands, li’l buddy.”

Mama Bosco seemed genuinely intrigued, leaning forward a touch more. “An empathetic reaction! That sounds so neat!”

“He blushes blue now, too.” He looked over at his husband with a slightly mischievous grin, and said, “Can’t hide that shit too easily now, can ya’, Firefly?”

“‘Firefly?’” the lady repeated.

“It’s my new nickname for him! ‘Cause he gets all glow-y and stuff, just like a firefly!”

“I sure do, li’l buddy,” Sam said, then looked at Mama Bosco and said, “And for the record, the empathetic thing ain’t the only thing I can do.”

“Oh?” she said.

“Eh, he’s got this electricity thing goin’ on, but it’s whatever,” Max said, though clearly kidding.

“Electrokinesis?”

“That, along with all the other stereotypical abilities that come with bein’ a Poltergeist, yeah,” Sam said with a nod. 

“Nice! Sounds like you’ve been pretty busy then, yeah?”

“Pretty much. But enough about us, though - what was it ya’ called us over for?”

“Hm? Oh, yes! Right, okay, so - sort of a ‘yeah, duh’ question, but you’re familiar with the whole concept of time travel, right?”

“Yeah, duh!” Max replied jokingly, while flicking a knowing gaze towards Sam. The dog merely returned the gaze and didn't say anything, returning it to Mama Bosco.

“Perfect. So-” she dug into her pocket for the object she had shoved in it upon their arrival, and pulled it out to show them. It appeared to be a standard watch with an analog clock. “Time machines always seem to be these big, clunky things, but it seems counterproductive when the whole goal is to be discreet.”

“I can agree with that,” Sam said. “So ya’ made somethin’ you can just slap on your wrist and no one’ll blink an eye at it.”

“Exactly! No one’s gonna care about you wearing a watch!”

“So how’s it work, then?”

“The clock itself comes up like this,” she explained, pushing on the clock’s surface, which prompted it to raise as if it had been on some form of spring. She then held it forward so the dog and lagomorph could see the digital clock as well as the date, which currently read the exact time and day they were currently in - 12:13PM, 08/02/2017. “And all you have to do is turn this dial-” she pointed to the dial that typically would be used to turn the watch’s hands, “-and push it in once you’ve got the number you want to move onto the next one. And once you’ve adjusted them all, all you gotta do is push it again, and you’ll be off.”

“Seems simple enough. And I’m guessin’ ya’ called us over ‘cause you were plannin’ on asking us t’ test it?”

She gave a small laugh, and said, “Well, yeah, actually. I figured if anyone would be up for it, it’d be you. Of course, you don't _have_ to if you don't want-”

“Oh, don't be ridiculous!” Max said. “We’ll do it - won’t we, Sam?”

“Can't think of a reason not to,” Sam replied.

“Thanks, guys,” the scientist said, “It means a lot.” She held out the watch for Sam to take. “Though, for a test run, I’d recommend staying in a time where you already exist.”

“Won’t that mean we’ll have t’ hide from our other selves?”

“You shouldn't. The way it's supposed to work is if you’re in a time where you already existed, you’ll just be in your own body. Saves the risk of creating a paradox and all.”

“Oh, good,” he said, then added under his breaths, “‘Cause those guys are jerks anyway.”

“What was that?”

“Nothin’.” He began slipping on the watch, and as soon as he did, he began to fiddle with the controls of it.

“We should go back to our wedding day,” Max said, though clearly just joking around still, grabbing onto his husband’s arm and leaning his head against his shoulder, batting his eyes up at him. “That way I can give ya’ a big ol’ smooch all over again.”

“You can do that literally any time y’ want, li’l buddy.”

Max feigned a surprised gasp, and said, “You’re _right!_ ” before proceeding to press his lips to the dog’s cheek, pulling back with a _‘mwah!_ ’ which earned a small laugh from both Sam and Mama Bosco.

“As much as I find ya’ absolutely endearing, I think the best thing t’ do here is just rewind back t’ this morning and take it from there.”

The lagomorph gave a light groan. “But we just _did_ all of this morning!”

He patted his partner’s head. “I know. But this way, if anything happens, it’s not too far of a jump t’ get back.”

Max hummed. “I guess.”

Sam then turned his gaze to the lady sitting before them and, seeing as he had the numbers properly set, said, “We’ll be back in a few hours!”

“Take your _time_ , boys,” Mama Bosco said with a wink at the word time. With that, Sam pressed the button and, with Max still attached to his arm, the two warped away before Mama Bosco’s very eyes. To them, however, it was like suddenly shutting the lights off, everything going black.

And then a moment later, they were both waking up in the Wyoming King-sized bed that had come with the old house, interlocked in the same cuddling position they had woke up in this morning - with Sam practically wrapped around the lagomorph, a hand on his back, and Max with his head pressed against Sam’s chest.

Admittedly, they were a touch disoriented by the sudden shift, and it took them both a minute to mentally catch up with what just happened, blinking away the slight feeling of dizziness in their head. If not for the fact that they both knew better, they’d have guessed that they had awoken from a dream.

“Well,” Sam finally said, “The travellin’ backwards part works at least.”

“I feel funky,” Max replied. “Like all tingly and stuff.” He audibly shuddered.

“That’s ‘cause ya’ woke up with me cuttin’ your circulation off, remember?”

He paused. “...Oh, yeah!”

Sam loosened his bear hug, and as soon as he had, Max scrambled up so that he was more at Sam’s face level, promptly bumping his nose against the dog’s. “Hi,” he greeted with a goofy grin.

“Hi yourself,” Sam replied, deciding to place a small smooch on his husband’s nose, earning a giggle from him. He then repositioned himself so that he was lying on his back, and pulled Max closer to his side with an arm before Max decided he had other plans, and decided to lie right on top of Sam instead.

“ _Sooo_ , this isn’t one of those things where we have t’ do everything step-by-step, is it?” Max questioned, idly patting at the shaggy fur at Sam’s chest. “‘Cause if that’s the case, we may’ve already failed step one.”

“I dunno. Hard t’ tell when there isn’t a machine tellin’ ya’ you’re wrong, y’know?” Max hummed in agreement. “But I reckon we don’t have t’ be _too_ strict about it - so long as we get to Mama Bosco’s on time t’ tell her the watch works.”

“And how long ‘til then?”

Sam checked the watch that was still attached to his wrist, then gave a light shrug. “‘Bout an hour or so, I’d say. I mean, I’ll get her text regardless, I imagine.”

“A whole hour t’ just lie here, then?” Max asked with a tilt of his head.

The dog gave a light huff. “As if that wasn’t what we were doin’ this mornin’ anyway.” The lagomorph giggled again. Sam placed a hand on his back, lightly rubbing a thumb on his white fur. “But yeah. Whole hour just t’ us.”

“Perfect,” he replied, then laid his head back down on the dog’s chest.

. . .

The whimpering and crying of the unwilling passengers in the back of the van was cut short when the man in the passenger slammed a hand against the cage that was between the backseat and the front, with him shouting, “Shut up back there!”

“Would you stop that,” the woman at the wheel scolded, “People are gonna start noticing.”

“I can’t just _take_ it, man! It’s like listening to a bunch o’ nails on a chalkboard. It’s annoying as hell.”

“Well, the doctor’s gonna appreciate the generous donation, so shut up and deal with it for just a few more minutes, yeah?”

The man merely grunted, leaning an arm on the sill of the window. “Why’s he so obsessed with gettin’ all o’ these animal subjects for his experiments, anyway?”

“That information’s a li’l too much for our pay grade, Pete. ‘Sides, the less we know, the better…”

Meanwhile, Sam and Max were pulling up on the opposite side of the street again, just as they had been before ending up in Mama Bosco’s lab the first time around. Max stretched and yawned, and said, “Y’know, we spent that mornin’ _waaay_ better than last time.”

“I’ll second that, li’l buddy,” Sam replied, getting out of the car. Max followed suit. “Can’t wait t’ see the look on Mama Bosco’s face when we waltz in with her device in hand.”

“Say, Sam, if she’s already in there workin’ on the watch, and _we_ walk in with her watch, does that mean there’ll be _two_ of ‘em now?”

“By golly, I think you’re right.” Sam stopped right before leaving the sidewalk and going onto the road. “Guess that saves her the trouble of makin’ a new one if she messes up one.”

“We could match!”

The dog gave an amused chuckle, and said as he continued walking forward, “We sure could. I don’t think she’ll be quite so eager to lend ‘em both out, though.”

“She’ll be eager t’ give it t’ me,” Max said, jokingly. “Since I-”

Seemingly without warning - just like the first time around - that van was suddenly tearing down the street. And unlike last time, where Sam had narrowly avoided it, he was suddenly getting slammed by it, and was sent flying across the road as the truck squealed to a sudden halt.

“Oh, Jesus Christ!” the man - Pete - shouted, while his partner in crime was staring wide-eyed at what had just happened.

Max was also wide-eyed, and immediately yelled, “Sam!” before running over to his partner, kneeling by his side. The dog had a tongue lolled out, but otherwise seemed to merely be unconscious. “Sam, talk to me!”

“He’s about t’ cause a scene,” Pete said. “He’s about t’ cause a scene and get us _caught_ , what do we do!?”

The driver took a few deep breaths, her eyes scanning the situation in front of them, before eventually saying, “Grab him. Grab the rabbit.”

“What about th-”

“We can’t carry the dog! Besides, he probably ain’t gonna remember this anyway. Take a net, and _grab the rabbit._ ”

Max shook Sam by the shoulders, saying, “ _Saaam_ , wake _up!_ ” while the man was getting out of the van. Max heard the door shut clearly in his sensitive ears, but didn’t pay it much mind, thinking that someone was merely getting out to check if the dog was okay as well. At once, though, Max turned to shoot a nasty glare at them, and yelled, “Watch where you’re-!”

Before he even got to finish, the net was suddenly thrown over him. He was momentarily surprised by the sudden assault, but he immediately started fighting against the ropes, trying to tear himself free. All he did was make himself more tangled, however, and the man was quickly coming up to him, no doubt to try and take him away.

Okay, so he couldn’t fight his way out of it. He couldn’t really teleport himself away, either. Panic had a tendency to make his teleportation a touch unreliable, since he had no way of telling where he’d end up - and without knowing if Sam was actually hurt, he didn’t really want to risk putting them in a worst spot by accident.

His pink eyes fell on the watch still attached to Sam’s wrist, however, and at once he managed to shoot a hand out to grab onto it, pulling himself forward and quickly opening the watch, and pressing the button as fast as he could with the man now by his feet and grabbing the net, ready to start dragging him away. If Max could just fast forward enough, maybe he could avoid being in this unfavourable situation- 

Wait, hang on, was it the day or the month first on the date? Was he meant to input ‘08/02’ or ‘02/08’? Well, upon feeling as if he were being yanked, likely in an attempt to get him to let go of his partner, he quickly decided that it didn’t matter - so what if he ended up a few months ahead or back? He’d figure it out after - and thus decided to put it as 02/08.

“Come on,” the man said, “Let _go!_ ”

“Eat my ass!” Max yelled back at him as he tried to set the year. The man merely responded with another yank, which, unbeknownst to Max, had made his finger slip, so it was no longer 2017, but 2018. Immediately after, the lagomorph hit the button again, and gripped onto Sam’s hand tightly right before he suddenly blacked out the same way he had the first time.

A few moments later, he was opening his eyes, and during his brief daze after the sudden jump from time to time, he sat up and rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes with a light groan. Okay - he may have been willing to buy that it wasn’t a dream before, but this? He _had_ to have been waking up from some weird nightmare right now.

“Sam,” he murmured groggily. “You would not _believe_ the shit I just- dreamt...up…”

He had trailed off, blinking, upon seeing that he was nowhere in his home nor the office - but rather, on the inside of a cage.


	2. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max finds himself in some strange prison. Meanwhile, Sam's having some major problems of his own.

“ _Ohhh_ , I hate it here,” Max said immediately after discovering his little prison.

He may as well have been - and honestly, could have been, frankly - in one of those large cages meant for _guinea pigs_. It was very small, with no room to stand and very little room to move. He was lucky to have been able to sit up just then without hitting his head.

His first instinct was to check Mama Bosco’s time travelling watch, to see what he had screwed up - because there was certainly no way in hell he had done anything _right_ if he was in here. However, upon checking his wrist, he found that it wasn't there. His brows furrowed for a moment before snapping his fingers in realization. “Right,” he muttered. “ _Sam_ was wearin’ it, not m- _heeey!_ ” His wedding ring was missing! Those bastards must’ve taken it!

Max growled, clenching his fists. Screw this! He wasn't playing these assholes’ game any longer than he had to. He shut his eyes, and tried to focus on the home phone number, which he had made absolute _sure_ to memorize for the sole purpose of using it to teleport-

The lagomorph yelped, having felt a swift zap to his neck upon his powers even just _slightly_ beginning to work their glorious, psychic magic. He instinctively grabbed for his throat, only to be met with the feeling of cold metal, which made his hand flinch away for a moment before he slowly reached to feel it again. Surely enough, after feeling around for a moment or two, he could confirm that he was wearing some sort of metal collar that was no doubt keeping his powers restrained.

Shortly after he had confirmed this, however, he heard a door creak open, and immediately was turning his head in the direction of the sound, his ears perked straight up, even leaning them forward to try and hear better. What followed was the sound of footsteps coming his way, which echoed in the empty room. 

Eventually they stopped, and Max could just barely see that there was a man standing in front of him. However, before he could even question who it was, there was a small _click_ before a bright light suddenly shone on the lagomorph, who immediately covered his eyes with an arm and grunted in pain at being suddenly blinded.

“Good morning, Max,” came the man’s soothing voice - though, currently, it was having the exact opposite effect for Max. “How are we today?”

Max was still blinking the light from his eyes, but still he questioned, “How do you know my name?”

“Ah,” was all the man said. “Having one of _these_ days, are we? Very uncharacteristic of you, Max.”

“What the hell are ya’ talkin’ about?” He was able to recover his vision, and took a look at the man before him. It was still difficult to see him because of the lighting, but Max could make out a white man with a matching lab coat and glasses, along with thin shoulders. Seemed gangly, and vaguely resembled a rat. 2 out of 10 - _very_ unsexy.

“Do you recall who I am, Max?” he asked, leaning forward and placing a hand on his own chest.

“Not a clue.” He continued to observe the man - er, doctor, rather - taking note of the clipboard in his hands, which, when Max responded the way he did, the man lightly clicked his tongue and wrote something down.

“Well, allow me to refresh your memory, then.” He placed the clipboard back in his lap. “I’m Doctor Grimmd.”

“Grim- _duh?_ ” Max questioned with a raised brow, putting emphasis on the last syllable. “Doctor _Grim_ wasn’t good enough for ya’?”

“Your sense of humour appears to be about the same as it’s always been,” Grimmd commented, though he didn’t laugh, and merely made another note on the clipboard.

“Alright, enough of this,” Max said, his brows furrowing, a deep frown on his features. “Where am I, what the hell did ya’ put on me, and where is my husband, you lint-covered son of a fu-” He was zapped again, and gave another yelp before gritting his teeth.

The doctor merely pointed an index finger, and waved it. “Tsk tsk. _Language._ ”

“ _Bite_ me,” the lagomorph shot back.

Another note on the clipboard, this time with the man muttering “Aggressive behaviour…” as he did so. He then lowered it again, and said, “To answer your questions, you are in The Facility-” For some reason, Max felt it necessary to mentally capitalize the two words, given the way the man said them. “-where you are here to help us. And you are currently wearing a collar to keep your powers - _and_ behaviour - in check.”

“Okay, fantastic. Great,” Max replied sarcastically. “You haven’t answered my last question, though.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Where. Is. My. Husband? He was knocked out cold last I saw him, and now I’m here and I don’t see ‘im. Where _is_ he?”

Doctor Grimmd merely shook his head, as if confused. “What husband? This is the first I am hearing of any husband.”

Okay, well _that_ had to be a lie - as _if_ there was any universe where he _wouldn’t_ be talking about Sam non-stop. However, he figured quickly that either this doctor was manipulating him _or_ Max had purposely withheld information regarding Sam for reasons he couldn’t really know since he’d jumped time. And so he did something he didn’t do too often, and kept his mouth shut.

The man looked as if he was waiting for an answer, but when he received none, he just scribbled another note down, clicked the pen once and said, “I’m not certain when I will return for you today, but make no mistake, I shall. Kendra shall stop by to deliver your meal in a few hours.” He then stood up from the chair he had been sitting in during the exchange, and pushed it aside. “Until then, Max.”

Max continued to say nothing as the doctor exited the room, before eventually exhaling a breath. So he had a few questions answered, but he didn’t feel any less lost than when he had woken up. 

Regardless, he knew one thing: He needed to get out of there, _ASAP_.

. . .

The lagomorph groaned as he had his back and shoulders against one end of the cage, while forcefully trying to push the door to it open with his large feet. The cage was small so it wasn’t hard to reach from one end to the other. On the other hand, however, it _did_ make it harder to actually try and push against it, given that he may as well have been trying to push a rock while pressed against a hard place. (Because that was how that saying went, right?)

He eventually came to the conclusion that that method wouldn’t work, and allowed himself to collapse against the cage floor, letting out an annoyed huff. With some maneuvering, he decided to try and simply reach his small, furry mitt right through the bars again, as if expecting his arm to somehow have gotten long enough to reach the lock. Alas, this was not the case.

Couldn’t push it open, couldn’t reach the lock, couldn’t bite through the bars (he received another jolt with that one)...couldn’t get out. He settled for wrapping his hands around the bars, gripping so tight his knuckles would’ve gone white if they weren’t already so.

Since arriving in this lab, he had heard some ambience, but not much. The room he was being kept in wasn’t soundproof, but it sure was good at keeping the noise out. Still, he could occasionally hear the sound of other cages rattling, or maybe a shout - undoubtedly other people that were trapped in here like him. He had figured pretty quickly that he wasn’t the only one in there, though he wished he was. He had no clue what it was that that creep, Doctor Grimm- _duh_ , did in here, but given the circumstances, he was willing to bet it wasn’t anything pleasant.

However, as he allowed his focus to drift to the distant ambience, a sudden shiver went down his spine - not entirely unlike the effect that the Toys of Power once had on him whenever he made contact with them - and he found his ears twitching upon picking up the sound of what sounded like the whimperings of animal children, which made his head snap in the direction, the sounds fully grabbing his attention. He found himself scrambling in that direction just to try and hear them better, his ears fully perked forward now. And once he had properly positioned himself, there was no mistaking that those were puppy whimpers. He would know well, given he spent so much time with Sam as a kid.

“What the _hell-_ ” he found himself saying, rage beginning to bubble up in his stomach and up to his chest. These bastards kept _kids_ in here? As if it wasn’t bad enough they were keeping _people_ in here!? Why, they better _hope_ he didn’t get his hands on them, or he’d tear out their kneecaps and shove ‘em _RIGHT_ down their-

Interrupting his wrathful thoughts was the sound of the door opening behind him, making him quickly whip his head around to see a human silhouette. The temptation to immediately spew venom at this guy - to verbally tear his head off - was _extremely_ hard to resist in that moment, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. The less that this sick asshole knew that he knew, the better.

Except it wasn’t Doctor Grimmd at all. Instead, it was a lady with a tiny tray in her hands - to which Max suddenly remembered the mention of a ‘Kendra’ that was supposedly dropping by to deliver him food. Or, ‘food’, rather. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was about to receive the same slop that was fed to farm pigs. Not that he wouldn’t still _eat it_ or anything, he was just saying-

Wait a second. Hadn't he seen this lady before?

As soon as the light hit her face, he felt as if a memory bubbled to the surface; Sam getting hit by the van, the man coming out to try and kidnap him...but there was someone else still behind the wheel, keeping the vehicle running as to be prepared to drive off at a moment’s notice...

“Back up,” she ordered, not so kindly. He didn't comply, and so through the bars, she gave him a light shove, making him fall back for a moment before he caught himself. He then heard the sound of something being opened, and his heart skipped a beat, thinking it was the cage. But no - upon looking, it seemed there was a little compartment at the bottom of the cage door that could be opened specifically to slide the tray of food in.

Still, that could be useful in its own way.

“Stop staring at me with your weird friggin’ bright eyes,” she said as she closed the compartment.

Max couldn't help but give a sharp-toothed grin at that. “Aww, ‘bright?’ Thank you! That's probably the nicest thing you've said to me.” He presumed, anyway. She didn't exactly seem like the complimenting type - and nor did she react to his tomfoolery. He wasn't deterred by this attitude, however, and said, “Y’know, the doc did a quick check of me earlier, and - ha - funny enough, he thinks I have amnesia or somethin’, so forgive me for askin’ this, but have we met before?”

She quirked a brow, her half-lidded eyes scanning over him. He would admit, his generally zany attitude _did_ have its cons. He could tell just by her expression that she wasn't too sure if she should believe him or not. But the pro of his demeanour was that it also made it hard for her to tell whether he was actually up to something or not. 

Eventually, however, she said, “Outside of the six or so months I’ve been delivering mashed up food for ya’? Never seen ya’ a day in my life.” And with that, she turned and she left the room.

She was lying - he could just tell that she was. She was just stubbornly not admitting that she was an accomplice in what boiled down to a kidnapping, which, hey, fair enough. That wasn't the thing the lagomorph was focused on however - he was more focused on the ‘six months’ part. If he had presumably been in there for the past six months since they apparently took him, then...yeah. He screwed up the date format on that watch _big_ time.

He couldn’t help but wonder just one thing, however. Usually Sam was the one who would bust him out of these situations - assuming, of course, Max had been unable to free _himself_ first. But if he hadn’t been able to free himself, and he’d been in there for six months, then...where was Sam?

. . .

**SIX MONTHS EARLIER…**

“ _I don't know, I just heard shouting, and then found him like this…_ ” a female voice said, sounding like she was a hundred miles away to Sam’s ringing ears.

The dog groaned as he finally started to wake up, his head feeling as if it were just about ready to split open. He struggled to open his eyes at first, and soon found himself attempting to shield them with his arm. 

He distantly heard a murmur of “Shut those off,” and shortly thereafter, the room went dark, which prompted him to allow his arm to flop back to his side. “Sam?” he heard Mama Bosco say. “Sam, can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, his voice sounding a little dried out. With a quiet groan, he sat himself up.

“Take it easy there, Sam,” he heard Flint say.

“‘M good,” he replied. He saw Mama Bosco reach for something, and heard the whir of the bed moving right behind him. When it stopped, he leaned back, sighing through his nose. He found himself glancing around the pristine white room, then at the light blue and white sheets along with what was clearly a hospital gown. His brow furrowed. “Am I at the hospital?”

“Yes,” Mama Bosco confirmed. “I found you lying on the pavement outside. Your head got scratched up a bit, so I brought you here.”

“Fantastic,” he said sarcastically - not towards her bringing him to the hospital, of course, but at the news that he had apparently gotten hurt.

“I called Flint over to help. I mean, Lord knows he’d be able to figure out who did this, I’m sure.”

“...What do you mean?”

Flint pulled up a chair and sat down, answering for her, “Mama Bosco here thinks that maybe it was deliberate set-up. Heard tires squealin’, heard Max shoutin’ your name, and then next thing ya’ know, she comes out - no vehicle, and no Max. A straight up kidnapping, right outside her own building. Do ya’ remember anything that happened?”

Sam stared at him blankly, though confusion could be seen in his eyes. “Uhhmm...no, I can't...say I really remember anything about that, but, uh...I’m sorry, _who?_ ”

Flint glanced to the side, then back at him, shrugging. “Who...what?”

“Who’s Max?” The detective and scientist’s eyes widened at the question. It's as if he may as well have told him he’d killed someone, they looked so shocked. “What? Who is he?”

“You don't...remember...Max?” Mama Bosco said in disbelief, a hand on her chest and a hand on the back of Flint’s chair, as if bracing herself against it.

Sam decided to take an extra moment to think. He _had_ hit his head, apparently - maybe his brain was just struggling to keep up with him. However, after about thirty seconds of nothing, he shook his head. “Mm...no. Can’t say I do.”

“Your partner?” Flint said. “The friend you’ve had since you were a baby? Your _husband?_ ”

The dog blinked at the word ‘husband’, and laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I, uh - I’d think I’d _remember_ gettin’ married.”

“Oh my God,” the lady murmured. “You really don’t remember.”

There was a slight feeling of tightness in Sam’s chest, as if some part deep inside of him was reacting with anxiety towards the situation and trying to reach the surface. However, all he felt was discomfort towards the other two insisting he was forgetting someone that he could have sworn he had never heard about. He sighed, and said calmly, “Look. I sincerely have no clue who you’re talkin’ about.”

“He’s your _everything_ , though, Sam-o!” the man said. “How could you just-”

“Flint, wait,” Mama Bosco said, putting a hand on his shoulder and making him look at her. She didn’t look back, however - her eyes seemed distant, fixated on nothing as she was lost in her own thoughts for a moment. Eventually, she found herself digging into her pocket, and pulled out a watch, holding it up by the strap in front of Sam. “Sam, do you recognize this?”

The dog blinked, then furrowed his brows. “What does that have t’ do with-”

“ _Do_ you recognize it, yes or no?”

“Yeah. Ya’ asked me t’ test it for ya’. Or least _some_ version of ya’ did-”

She tossed it and caught it mid-air, saying, “I _knew_ it.”

“What?” Flint asked. “Knew what?”

She looked at the man, then looked at Sam, who still seemed visibly confused. She then looked back at Flint again and said, “Step out with me.” She heard Sam huff quietly through his nose, but ignored it, and Flint, though puzzled, stood up and followed her out of the hospital room and out into the quiet hall.

“What is it?” the detective asked quietly.

“This watch,” she said, shaking it in her hand slightly, “It was on Sam when I found him. I didn’t think it was weird until just now, though, but here’s the thing - I have the exact same watch in my lab right now.”

“... _Oookay_ , and...why is that surprisin’ to ya’?”

“‘Cause it’s not _just_ a watch - it’s a time travelling device I was working on.” Flint’s brows raised, and she continued, “I called Sam and Max over to test it, but if Sam already had it, then I must’ve already done that. Not _me_ , but some version of me.”

“So what’re ya’ thinkin’? That this was some experiment test gone wrong?”

“Maybe. Maybe something in the timestream changed to make Max disappear and Sam forget about him-”

Flint looked panicked as soon as she said that, and said, “Whoa, wait, hang on - you’re not about t’ tell me Max is-?”

“Oh, hell no. He ain’t gone completely.” The man gave a relieved sigh. “If he was, _we_ wouldn’t remember him, either. No, this is more isolated than that. But if Sam can’t even remember him or what happened to him, there’s no way of knowing _what_ went wrong.”

“Yeah, that is a bit of a pickle,” Flint muttered, putting his hands on his hips. “So...this isn’t a kidnapping like ya’ initially thought, then?”

She shook her head. “I’m not really sure. Sometimes time acts weird when it’s being tampered with...oh, if only I hadn’t made this thing-!”

“Hey, relax. If Sam and Max couldn’t have predicted this, then neither could you.”

“I guess,” she murmured, hugging herself. “I guess what I’m trying to say, to answer your question, is that I wouldn’t rule it out - but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he simply just...doesn’t exist in this current time.”

Flint hummed, his brows furrowed in thought. “...I’ll still try t’ look into it. See if I can’t find any leads or anything on where he’s gone.” He spared a glance towards the entrance of Sam’s room, where he could see just around the corner Sam still leaned back in bed. “...We should keep an eye on him,” he said, then looked back at her and added, “He might not remember Max right now, but...well...we’ve seen how he gets when he ain’t around.”

“I know. I was thinking the same thing. But at the same time, let’s try not to be too... _forceful_. Amnesia isn’t easy to deal with - we don’t wanna overwhelm him.”

“Of course. I completely agree.” The woman hummed, but still seemed particularly uncertain. “...I can stay for a li’l bit longer. I don’t mind.”

She thought for a moment, then said, “No. If Max _is_ out there, you need to get on it as soon as possible. I’ll keep an eye on him-” she nodded towards Sam’s room, “-until he can get out.”

“Well, call me once he can, yeah? I could probably help him get situated.”

“Alright. Take care, Flint.”

“You too, doc.” With that, he turned and headed off, while Mama Bosco returned to Sam’s room.

As soon as she entered, the dog sat up straight again, and asked, “What was that about?”

She wasn’t entirely sure how to respond in a way that wouldn’t further make him uncomfortable, so instead she took a seat, and said, “I’d like to do a bit of an exercise with you, if you don’t mind.”

Sam raised a brow at that, but said, “ _Oookay_...what is it?”

“I wanna give you a notebook and pen, and I want you to write down everything you can remember.”

“Why’s that?” He seemed a touch skeptical at the suggestion. And Mama Bosco could see it clearly.

“Well, you were hit pretty bad. There’s no doubt that you suffered some head trauma-”

“If this is about that ‘Max’ guy-”

“It’s about your health,” she said - which wasn’t a lie. “I just think you may find it helpful. Therapeutic, even.”

He seemed to frown slightly at ‘therapeutic’, not feeling all that reassured. However, he still remembered Mama Bosco, and still trusted her, so he said, “Just... _everything_ I can remember?”

“Absolutely everything.”

“...Alright.”

Grateful that he was agreeing to do it, she got up and said, “I’ll be right back, then. Brainstorm ideas while I’m out - I’ll be right back.”

“Alright.” 

She then exited the room, going off to find a notebook and pen for him to use. After she had left, he found himself staring down at the sheets, pulling at them somewhat with his hands, feeling the fabric against his paw pads. He then found himself reaching a hand towards his head, lifting it hesitantly until he brushed his fingertips against the bandage that had apparently been wrapped around his head this whole time. He then lightly traced it to the back of his head, where the now dull, thumping pain was located. His brows furrowed once he felt it, as if in thought. And indeed, only one thought plagued his mind:

  
Who _was_ Max?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will be posted on September 11th!


	3. The Break For It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max currently has one goal in mind - to get the hell out of this god awful facility.

Max was slumped against the wall of the cage, drumming his fingers against the floor of it, his ears dropped forwards and absolutely bored out of his mind. He had long ‘finished’ the meal he was given (and by that, he had decided that maybe accepting food from such a skeezy place wasn't a good idea, and so he knocked it over in defiance) and he had tried opening up the compartment only to find the lock on it made it so it only opened if one pulled on it from the outside - and although breaking it open was always an option for anything, this was too small for him to do that. And a pity, because he was pretty sure if he could fit his arm through it, he might be able to get the lock. But now, instead, he was simply waiting for something to happen - for some opportunity to present itself.

His patience paid off, however, upon hearing the door click open again. His ears straightened at the noise, and he found himself scrambling to the front of the cage again to see who it was. Surely enough, it was the doctor himself, casually walking in with a clipboard in hand. “Apologies for the wait,” he said, sounding half-distracted still. “As you may or may not recall, there are many operations within these walls with which I have to monitor.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Max replied, sounding pleasant despite having the mental image of beating this guy over the head with a club the old-fashioned caveman style way.

Grimmd pulled his attention away from his clipboard towards the mess that was on the table that held Max’s cage up and dripping onto the floor. “If you weren’t hungry, you could have simply left it rather than creating work for the cleaning staff.”

The lagomorph raised a brow. “You’ve got cleanin’ staff?” he questioned, then said, “You should probably fire ‘em then, ‘cause this place smells like a public bathroom stall. ‘Sides - I’m vegan.”

“I’ll be sure to relay that information to them, then,” the man replied in all seriousness. Jeez - Max was convinced that a soggy cardboard box had a better understanding of humour than this guy. Then again, he supposed he shouldn’t have expected anything less from a guy that looked like Pinochio after smoking about fifty cigarettes at once.

Max’s ears twitched at the sound of the door creaking again, and saw that two other people were entering the room. “Whoa, whoa-” Max said, finding himself scrambling back a bit to put distance between himself and the oncoming strangers, his back hitting the wall of the cage. “Hang on, who the  _ hell _ -”

“Relax,” Doctor Grimmd said in a way that made Max feel the exact  _ opposite _ of relaxed. “They are simply assistants of mine. As you may have forgotten, given your peculiar ailment, I cannot simply transfer you on my own. You have certainly made more than one escape attempt during your time here, and I’m afraid that, for your own good, I can’t allow that to happen.”

“Ugh, you’re one of those,” Max found himself muttering under his breath. Just a not-so-friendly reminder that anyone who used ‘for your own good’ to justify something probably had the exact  _ opposite _ of good intentions in mind. He tried not to yelp in surprise, however, at the cage suddenly being lifted up by the two people that had entered.

“Oh, and I ask you kindly,” the doctor said as they started carrying him away, “Please refrain from mauling them on the way down this time.”

‘This time.’ Implying that he had done it at  _ least _ once before. Good to know that even in whatever time-induced stupor he’d been in for the past six months, he was still true to his nature. And with that wonderful thought in mind, he flashed a smile and said, “No promises!”

As his prison was carried through a hall, he found himself analyzing his surroundings, figuring it’d be useful as a, hopefully, not-so-distant future reference. The halls were about as well-lit as one would expect from a place like this - every bulb seemed to be on the verge of dying at any moment, as far as he could see. And despite the walls being as dark as they were, Max could still see bits of grime on them, which only seemed to solidify his earlier comment about firing the so-called cleaning staff.

One other thing that had caught his attention, however, was the open doorway they walked past, to which he momentarily had a chance to see inside of from where he was. He could see clearly the other cages - some of which looked almost rusted from where he was at - and only had a brief look at the other animals that were in there before he was pulled away by the two people carrying him.

Except the only thing - and the worst thing, for that matter - was that he could tell they weren't just animals. They were people - just like him and Sam were.

Eventually, he was brought into a room that looked cleaner than the halls, which wasn't entirely saying much. The walls had more of a metallic gleam to them, and he could just make out a hint of rust along where the pieces of wall connected. In the middle of the room, there was one of those tables with straps on it, just like one would see in those stereotypical sci-fi and/or horror movies.

And not so far from it was a tray with stuff that he damn well knew were tools used to operate.

“Uhh, hey, sirs?” the lagomorph said, turning to look at at least one of the two people carrying him as they started to lower him down. “Y’know, I’m not really sure if this whole thing is really OSHA approved. Or FDA. Or any organization that actually has half a brain cell when it comes to-”

Without warning, one of the people opened up the cage, but before Max had a chance to even register that there was a tiny window of opportunity, he was instead being grabbed and yanked out.

“Whoa, whoa,  _ hey! _ ” he protested, instinctively grabbing onto the cage as if  _ that _ was going to help somehow. Which it totally didn't, by the way - all he succeeded in doing was dragging the cage with him as they pulled him towards the table. Eventually, he decided to keep to his statement of ‘no promises’ regarding the mauling and growled before attempting to turn around and claw at them, teeth bared.

Unfortunately, as soon as he even got near them, he got zapped by the collar again - pretty bad this time, too - and found himself loudly groaning and gritting his teeth until the unpleasant shock subsided. All he could do then was go limp for a brief moment, which was enough of a chance, between the two people, for him to be placed on the table and strapped down by his wrists. There was a moment where he kicked his feet and actually managed to catch one of them in the stomach, but that merely earned him another shock, and soon enough his ankles were strapped down, too.

“Thank you, gentleman,” he heard Doctor Grimmd say (which, by the way, what a creeper. Like, how long had  _ he _ been standing there?). “That will be able for now.”

As the two  _ henchmen _ left, Max heard one of them mutter about his stomach, which would have put a proud smile on his face if he wasn't- actually, no. No, it did put a proud smile on his face. Screw those guys.

“Satisfied with your daily dose of hostility, Max?” the doctor said.

“I was just havin’ a shock-induced muscle spasm,” the lagomorph lied in a teasing matter, “Not my fault if they got caught in the crossfire.”

“You are awfully comfortable for someone in your position.”

...Okay. That wasn’t ominous or anything. Totally didn’t sound vaguely threatening. Still, he kept up his pleasant demeanour, and asked, “And what  _ is _ my position, exactly, doctor? Do jog my foggy memory.” Grimmd did not reply, preoccupied with scribbling something down. Which, uh, really didn’t help Max feel any more comfortable. “Wait, lemme guess - lab rat? Or- no, it’s not rat with me, is it. I mean-” He laughed as he spoke, “I’m no  _ rat _ in both the literal and figurative sense-”

“You seem nervous,” Grimmd commented.

“Me? Nah. That’s just my inherent inability to stay still and shut the hell up.” He raised a brow, and said, “I’m almost disappointed you’ve been dealin’ with me for six months and never caught up. Or have ya’ just been too busy stickin’ the clipboard up your-”  _ Zap. _

“That’s certainly enough of that,” the man murmured. He set aside his clipboard, and, while adjusting his glasses slightly, stated, “Max, I’m going to run a brain scan on you - to see what it is that could be causing this ailment of yours.”

Ohh, he didn’t like that. Not one bit. Ever since a certain  _ space gorilla _ had decided to toss his brain in a jar that one time, he had a rather specific phobia of anyone getting too close to it. “Is that really necessary? I mean, okay, so I don’t remember the past six months of my life, but frankly, who  _ does? _ Can  _ you _ remember every little thing you’ve done in the past half-a-year?”

“My memory is photographic. I do not share the sentiment.”

“Oh.” Pause. “Okay, well my memory is practically that of a goldfish’s, so-”

“Even a goldfish can remember up to five months,” the doctor said, interrupting. “In any case, if it reassures you, I do not require physically getting  _ inside _ your head for a scan. I’ve learned fairly quickly that it is too much effort to perform any sort of operation on you given your... _ unique _ natural defense mechanism.”

Max raised a brow at that, puzzled by the statement, before recalling that time when Mack Salmon had tried to get his goons to get to his brain, and- “Oh, yeah!” he said once he recalled, “Yeah, I do that sometimes.” And thank God, too, apparently. If it meant Grimmd was unwilling to use those nasty tools on  _ him _ , then that was a plus.

“It is certainly unlike anything I have ever seen,” the man said. Shortly after he spoke, Max felt something attach to one of his temples, then attach to the other. Once the doctor removed his hand from the second one, he tried to crane his neck to see what exactly it was he was doing. He could see the wires leading to his temples no problem, given they were directly in his face, but he allowed his gaze to trail along them and could only just barely see out of his peripheral a small monitor that Doctor Grimmd was pulling a seat up to while he kept an eye on it.

“...So, why is it that I’m here again?” Max asked, figuring if ever there was a good time to try and get information out of him, now would be it.

“You are here to help.”

“Okay, but, like, help  _ what _ exactly? I mean, I’m a pretty talented guy if I do say so myself. There’s probably a bunch of things I could help ya’ with if ya’ just asked!”

“I am a man interested in only one thing, Max - progress. And I believe that you could be quite the asset in achieving progress.”

“...Okay, that doesn’t really answer anything.”

“The world runs rampant with disease and physical flaws - many of which need to be eradicated. I have merely chosen to walk the path of eradicating them, as many others have.”

Okay, that- ...that had some undertones that made Max frankly uncomfortable. Actually, everything about this dude made him uncomfortable. Pretty sure it was the ‘eradicating’ part. If Sam had said it, he’d have told him not to. That wasn’t particularly relevant to his point, he was just really wishing Sam were here right then. “Uh...okay,” he said after a moment. “Not that I doubt your intentions-” Though he did.  _ Very _ much. “-but, uh- I don’t know. I’m no medical expert, but I get the feeling that, typically, people who try to cure things don’t keep people in cages.”

Grimmd merely shook his head, and said, “Treating subjects with too much fragility does not get results. It impedes progress.”

“ _ Ohhh _ , so you’re just inhumane. Got it.”

The man glanced at the lagomorph over his shoulder with his pale blue eyes, and said, “But you’re not human.”

Max opened his mouth to retort, left it agape as he thought, then instead just said, “Okay, true, but-”

“Let’s change the topic,” the doctor said, now turning in his seat to face Max. “I wish to talk about you.”

“Mm, I dunno,” he said. “‘Me’ is a bit of a personal subject.”

“You mentioned a husband earlier. For the first time, as I had previously stated.”

“Yeah, about that - you took my wedding ring, yet ya’ didn’t know I was, y’know,  _ married? _ ”

“No, I did know. I just said this was the first time you actually  _ addressed _ it, and thus the first I was hearing of it.”

The lagomorph ran it through his head for a moment, then said, “Makes sense.”

“Tell me about this husband of yours, then.” He sat back, hands folded in his lap.

This guy was joking, right? He didn’t actually think he’d just freely give up his own partner like that, right? Especially not after he may as well have said ‘you’re not human so I don’t give a shit about how well I treat you’.

Instead of properly answering, Max merely replied with, “Well, he’s gorgeous, sexy as hell and I love him.”

“Very descript.”

“Oh, wow, was that actually  _ sarcasm _ there, doc? And here I thought you had your humour removed along with your moral compass.”

“Is there a reason you are so opposed to speaking about your husband, Max?”

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s none of your business,  _ Grimmd _ . I mean, hell, if you don’t know who he is already, then that sucks for ya’.”

The man tilted his head. “You say that as if I  _ should _ know who he is.”

Max purposely kept his mouth clamped shut to keep him from blurting the very information he didn’t wish to share. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to keep that crap to himself given he was now puzzled by the doctor’s statement. He and Sam weren't  _ famous _ by any means, but they were pretty  _ infamous _ , and the amount of attention they drew from the public only increased with every case they did. Then again, this guy seemed pretty far off from reality as is.

“...Can I ask ya’ somethin’?” Max finally said.

“Of course.”

“You don’t actually know who I am, do ya’?”

“In what matter are you speaking of?”

“In the fact that you don’t even know my  _ full _ name, let alone what I was doin’ before I was brought here.”

Grimmd merely shook his head. “No. I do not. Nor do I even care. It is irrelevant to me.”

“But information about my husband  _ is _ relevant to ya’?”

“Well. I feel as if you already know the answer as to why.”

Ah. So he really was just fishing for a potential victim. Asshole.

When Max gave no response, the doctor decided to turn his attention from the lagomorph back to the monitor, continuing to watch as the scan did its thing. Though, Max couldn’t help but think - it seemed almost  _ impossible _ that he could have been here six months and Grimmd picked up practically nothing about him. After all, he had been in this timeline for merely five minutes, give or take, and he had already blurted out about a husband that he apparently never had before. Even if he was vigilant about the information he shared, he knew he could never spend six months without slipping up on a few things here and there. Bare minimum, the doctor would still know more about him than this.

So unless he was just playing him for a fool...what gives?

He heard Doctor Grimmd hum in curiosity, and tried to crane his neck again to see the monitor, though he couldn’t exactly see what was on it. “Interesting,” Grimmd said, rubbing his chin. “You appear to have nothing wrong, there.”

“Told ya’ - short memory.”

“It simply makes no sense, but then again, not much about you does.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

The man stood up from his seat, and said, “I will have you escorted back to your room. I advise you don’t try to harm your handlers again.”

“Again - no promises.”

The doctor left, and eventually the ‘handlers’ came back in and placed him in the cage with little issue - but only because Max actually wanted them to carry him back, if only to try and get another peek inside the room with all the cages and other animal people. He was also partially trying to see if maybe those kids he’d been hearing were in there. However, in the split second he peered in again, he saw no signs of them.

. . .

So, a short mental list of things that Max had learned during his (in terms of being aware, at least) brief time in this crack den equivalent of an actual laboratory:

  1. Doctor Grimmd was clearly the sort of doctor with sketchy intentions and poor ethics. His containing people like Max was clearly just some sort of loophole to avoid getting in too much trouble or raise too much suspicion - which him and Sam should _really_ check out once he found him? Kinda screwed up that these people slipped through the cracks so easily.
  2. There were kids in there, but he didn’t know where they were if they weren’t in that one room near his own that he’d seen.
  3. Despite Max allegedly being here six months, Grimmd severely lacked any sort of knowledge about him to the point of it being almost unnatural. Again - Max was incapable of shutting his mouth and, also worth mentioning, the doctor seemed very focused on detail. There was no realistic way in hell that Max could possibly be _that_ careful. So again, _what gives?_
  4. There were kids in there.
  5. This collar kept him in check, but it didn’t dampen his powers so much just make it highly unpleasant to try and use them. How did he come to this conclusion? Well, he was no _expert_ on how his body worked post-becoming a pseudo Elder God, but he figured if his weird ass defense mechanism was still working the way it was meant to, then the rest of him must be still in working order. Least, he hoped so.
  6. He really missed Sam. He wished he could smooch his big dumb face.
  7. _There were kids in there and he didn’t FREAKIN’ know where they WERE!_



Now, just as he had been since he first ‘showed up’ in there, he was planning on escaping - but now, at least, he had a little more clarity on how to do it. After that...well, he’d just have to see. As much as he wanted to help the other innocent people stuck in here, it wouldn't do any of them any good if he got caught and thrown back in again. So if he could, he would, but if he couldn't…he’d just have to come back for them once he got back up.

As much as he was sick of waiting for his chance, he remained patient. This whole plan pretty much relied on patience - but to make it perfectly clear, he would be ready no matter when that opportunity came.

And that opportunity certainly came sooner than expected.

The lagomorph’s ears twitched at the sound of the door opening, and at once he saw that it was Kendra. “Aww, payin’ me a pity visit?” Max teased.

“Don't flatter yourself,” she replied, coming over with another tray. “I’m only here ‘cause the doc said you spilled your food earlier like a damn child.” She stopped in front of the cage and, with a cool, half-lidded look, said, “His words - not mine.”

“Y’know, you almost remind me of a pal of mine from the outside, Stinky,” Max rambled. “She’s kinda got the ‘doesn't give a shit’ vibes just like you. As he rambled on, the lady clearly wasn't listening nor did she care, and leaned over to open the compartment to slide the tray in. “Can't say she’d like ya’, though,” he said, “She’s not particularly fond of people-”

As soon as Kendra opened up the compartment, Max cut himself off and shot out an arm and grabbed her by the shirt collar. The sudden grip made her grunt in surprise and before she could try to pry him off, the lagomorph yanked her forward as hard as he could, ignoring the electricity being administered directly into his throat as he slammed her head against his cell. It didn’t work the first time, which was rude, and after dropping the tray, she managed to get a hand around his wrist, cussing sharply, before he did it again, gritting his teeth against the pain. It thankfully had the effect he wanted this time, and she fell backwards onto the floor. He’d say she’d be unconscious for ten, maybe fifteen minutes.

Hopefully enough for him to at least get out of the room and get before she ratted him out.

Almost immediately after she dropped, he quickly reached for the cage lock, fiddling with it for a few moments before eventually deciding to snap it sharply to the right, and with a good  _ crack _ , the lock practically fell away, hitting the desk before bouncing onto the floor with a  _ clink _ .

Max pushed open the door, and hopped out at once. As soon as his large feet hit the cold floor, he quickly made his way toward the door but paused. He wouldn’t be able to keep himself out of sight out there - even with the poor lighting, anyone would be able to see his white fur from a mile away. He glanced over to the woman and took note of the brown jacket she wore. After taking the extra few moments to take it off her and throw it around himself with the hood up, he then quietly slipped out into the hall.

Once out there, the coast seemed mostly clear. The hall seemed practically deserted actually, aside from a person or two wandering in the furthest part of the hall that he could see. It was as if the halls were completely void of any signs of life. Which was  _ awesome _ for him, but that didn’t mean he should have been any less careful. He still made sure to stick to the shadows and remain as inconspicuous as possible.

The first place he decided to head towards with much caution was the room he had passed by when he was being carried to the ‘operating room’. He practically tip-toed once he was near it, slipping from one side of the hall to the opposite side just so he could carefully peek in by the doorway. It seemed that no one was in there. Well, no one other than the caged animals themselves.

He then decided to creep on in, and as soon as soon as he did, several of the other animals suddenly seemed alert at his presence, their eyes widening - and whether it was in alarm or in hope, Max couldn’t tell, but as soon as he looked upon their expressions, he put a finger to his lips, warning them to be quiet. They seemed to heed his silent warning, keeping their mouths shut. 

One, however - a squirrel with tufts on their ears, whose cage was located just above Max’s head - pressed their front paws to the front of the cage, and in a hushed tone, said, “How did  _ you _ get out?”

“Brute strength,” the lagomorph replied, trying his best to keep his own voice down. “Wouldn’t recommend tryin’ that yourself, though - might bruise a bit.”

“Not that strong anyhow,” the squirrel muttered. “Who  _ are _ you?”

“Max. You?”

“Fen. I suppose it’s a li’l too much hope for you to be here to help a guy out.”

The lagomorph eyed the lock on his cage for a moment. Unlike his, which had been a pretty standard lock, these ones appeared to be electronic and built into the cage. He probably  _ could _ break it, but he’d be risking just locking it permanently - and trying to snap the bars was an entirely different story than just breaking the lock. “ _ MMMight _ not be right now,” he finally said, “but I’m plannin’ on it.”

“Yeah, right,” he heard someone muttered, and looked just slightly to his left to see a dark grey mouse in the cage right next to Fen’s, whose eye was swollen shut and whose size was about as small as Max’s palm. “ _ You’re _ goin’ t’ get us out?”

“I’m workin’ on it,” Max insisted. “And who’re you, exactly?”

“None ya’.”

“Man, don’t be a jerk,” Fen murmured to the mouse.

“Y’know what? That’s fine. You don’t need t’ tell me,” Max said, trying to move the conversation along. He  _ was _ on a bit of a time limit, after all. “Just answer me this - are there any kids in here?”

“In here?” the mouse said. “‘Course not. Why would there be?”

“...Because I  _ heard _ some kids  _ whimpering _ , that’s why.”

“Well, they’re not in here. Haven’t seen any kids comin’ or goin’ in here.”

“Oh!” Fen said in realization. “Wait, I know what you’re talking about!”

Max’s ears perked up at once. “Yeah, and?”

“Well - we can’t hear ‘em from here, but I remember seein’ ‘em carry a kennel down the hall at some point. Must’ve been months ago by now at least.”

Upon hearing this information, the lagomorph put his hand on his chin in thought, his brow furrowing slightly. If  _ they _ couldn’t hear them from where they were, but he could...must have been on the other side of the room he was in. But how could he- actually, nevermind. He’d figure something out. “Alright, thanks,” he said, turning away, pausing, then looking back and adding, “I really will come back for you guys, I swear. Just gimme time.”

Whereas the mouse gave a doubtful hum, “Hurry,” was all Fen replied. After that, Max quietly slipped back out into the hallway and started making his way back down the way he came.

As he passed by his own door, he could hear someone - undoubtedly the woman he had knocked out - banging on the door and shouting something that was incoherent, but he’d guess it was something along the lines of ‘aaargh, let me out!’ along with several profanities in the mix. He had shut the door behind him, and the only thing he could’ve assumed was that it was locked from the outside, so that people could get in but couldn’t get out. Thank God she had left it open, then. Anyway, it seemed that her attempts of getting someone’s attention were muffled even to his sensitive ears (which was a little sus given the place, but whatever) so he figured he had a little while longer before someone noticed she never came back and went looking for her. 

He  _ had _ planned on going into his own room and seeing if there was a door attached on the opposite side of the room, but that seemed to be out of the question, so he simply continued up the hall instead.

The hall appeared to be just as empty, which was great but also starting to get a little unsettling. He tried to ignore that feeling, however, and continued to make his way up. The doorways that he found up the hall were either locked or completely open, exposing other operating rooms similar to the one he had been in. Still, he knew they weren’t anywhere near directly behind his room, so he kept going.

Eventually, however, after eventually turning a corner and heading in an eastward direction, he stopped suddenly in his footsteps upon picking up the sound of whimpering, and turned his head swiftly towards the nearest door. He slunk over to it at once, pressing his ear to it just to confirm what he’d heard, and- yes,  _ yes! _ They were here! They must have been!

He took a small step back. Okay, so if  _ his _ door was able to be opened from the outside, then by deductive reasoning (ugh - remind him never to think of the word  _ deductive _ ever again) this one should be able to as well, right? Well, whether it could or couldn’t, he was about to personally find out. He reached a paw towards the handle-

Right as he did, there was the jingle of keys and a click of a lock, and before the lagomorph even had the  _ chance _ to try and hide, the door opened, and standing right in the doorway was none other than Doctor Grimmd himself.

There was a moment of silence where both individuals remained completely still and stared at each other. And while Max’s eyes were wide in shock at the situation he now found himself in, Grimmd’s brows only furrowed, as if he was annoyed by seeing Max here. Which, to be fair,  _ he probably was. _

“Max,” the doctor said patiently, his calm tone not at all reflecting the annoyed expression on his features which did  _ not  _ make Max feel any better. “What are you doing out here?” Max said nothing. The man shut the door behind him, and Max took a step back as he took a step toward him. “You aren’t trying to escape, are you? You understand how I feel about that.”

The lagomorph still said nothing. In fact, instead of giving a verbal response, he simply turned and started bolting for it. He thought he heard Grimmd say something behind him, but he knew it wasn’t directed in him in the slightest. He understood his situation well enough to figure he was undoubtedly alerting security-

And, in fact, the whole hall soon went red (which was a much darker colour considering Max’s colourblindness, which  _ really _ did  _ not _ help him right now) and an alarm started blaring (which also really did not help him because God, this was going to leave him with his ears ringing and a headache once he got out.  _ If _ he got out). The lagomorph ditched the oversized coat he was wearing and took to leaving himself exposed and easy to spot in favour of not potentially tripping over himself. Stealth wasn’t exactly much of an option at this point anyway, considering any moment he was no doubt going to run into-

_ Aaand _ someone in a dark uniform came around the corner, and Max had only managed to spot them mere milliseconds before they were able to grab ahold of him, and decided to slide across the metal floor to narrowly avoid their grabbing hands before bouncing back up on his feet and continuing his run without breaking too much momentum. He could hear the footsteps behind him, but he wasn’t too worried - he’d outran much faster, much more  _ frightening _ things in his lifetime. He knew for a fact that the security guard wouldn’t catch up to him.

He took a sharp corner, nearly sliding straight into the wall. He had to find the exit to this place and  _ fast _ , but where the hell could it be? This place didn’t seem all that massive all things considered, so it wasn’t as if he feared never being able to find it. What he  _ did _ fear, however, was not being able to find it before someone got to him first. After all, it was dark, and loud, and overwhelming, and he only just narrowly avoided getting snatched up by that one guard. He couldn’t afford too many more close calls such as that.

Max took another turn down a hallway - then managed to skid to a halt and quickly turn a different way upon seeing a guard that, thankfully, had their back turned to him. As he ran down the other way, he looked over his shoulder to see if, potentially, they had ended up turning around and spotting him after all - and as soon as he did that, he ended up running, full-speed, into something metal, which audibly clanged after he hit it before falling back onto the floor.

The lagomorph promptly sat up and shook his head off, grabbing the sides of it to try and ease his dizziness. Once it passed, however, he soon looked to see that the thing he ran into was, in fact, a ladder, which led up to some sort of old-fashioned trap door. Which seemed  _ really _ odd in a place like this, but hey, he’d take it!

“Hey!” he heard someone shout behind him. He looked over real quick, widened his eyes upon seeing a security guard running full tilt towards him, and promptly scrambled up the ladder. Opening the trap door was, shockingly, not that difficult - he didn’t even need to give himself a zap to open it. He swiftly climbed through it and once he was standing on the top, he saw the guard trying to climb up after him. He then slammed the trap door down on the guard’s head, and heard the sound of them crashing to the floor right before he turned and started bolting again.

The ladder and trap door had, surprisingly yet thankfully enough, led to the currently dark outside. He had ended up getting out behind another building, but he didn't stop to look into the windows. Once he had back-up, maybe he would, but for now he was running for his life and didn't intend to stop for anything.

Now, see, as the lagomorph was running as fast as he was able to, especially now that he could hear guards behind him shouting and coming after him, he was expecting there to be, at most, a fence blocking his way. A fence that he could easily climb, regardless of whatever gimmick they attached to it to make it difficult to. What he wasn't expecting, however, was a giant stone wall in the way.

He slowed once he got to it and attempted to climb up it anyway, trying to dig his claws in. He couldn't, though - the stone was far too smooth for climbing.

“Dammit-!” he cussed under his breath, pounding his fists against the stone. This couldn't have been  _ it _ , though - there must have been some sort of gate that the staff could go in and out of. But said staff was approaching and fast. He wouldn't have time to find it before they caught him.

He had no other choice  _ but _ to try and teleport - regardless of however much it hurt him.

And so that was what he did. He tried to focus, and he put his energy into teleporting- and then came the zapping. He tried very hard to ignore it, gritting his teeth in an attempt to maintain his focus (though, admittedly, he was pretty sure he was going to be teleporting somewhere somewhat random at this rate).

A guard just barely managed to grab ahold of him before he teleported away.

. . .

“...’This really is a home, sweet home,’” Sybil read to her son, Georgie, whose eyes were struggling to stay open by this point. “‘It looks like Gingerbread Boy has already moved in! Thanks for all of your help. You did a great job.’”

The young boy - who was only a few months away from being six by this point - gave a yawn as she closed the book, and through that yawn asked, “Can you read another one?”

The lady hummed in amusement, shaking her head, getting up to put the book away. “I don’t think you’re going to stay awake long enough to hear through another one, kiddo.”

“I can try!” he said cheerfully.

That earned a small laugh from her, and she went back over to help tuck him in. “Maybe some other time,” was all she said.

“Mm, okay.” He yawned again. “G’night, mama.”

She bent over and gave a small kiss on his forehead. “Night, Georgie. Sleep well.” 

She turned and headed for the door, though paused to look back at him to see him stretching his stone arms before turning so that his back was facing her. She gave a small smile, then proceeded to shut off his light, closing the door behind her.

She then made her way downstairs towards her kitchen. There, she was greeted by the sight of only half finished dishes, with a big ol’ pan handle sticking straight out of the sink. She’d have to get to those at some point, but that wasn’t what she came down for. What she came down for was for the small, slightly messy stack of papers that she had left alone while she put her son to bed. Sitting down at the table to look at them, they were, in fact, notes regarding Sam.

A few months back, she had allowed herself to return to one of her previous occupations of being a psychotherapist - though, she had yet to decide if she wished to try to go back to it as a full-time job. Rather, she had returned to it as a way to help her shaggy friend of eight years now, having learned shortly after the dog’s hospitalization about his accident, as well as Max’s sudden disappearance. 

Now, Sam didn’t stop by for that all that often - he had spoken of his own personal hesitation towards therapy even before all of this began, so she didn’t hold that against him - but even when he did...she would admit that, after doing this for the past few months, she was at a loss as to how to assist him. Nothing she suggested seemed to help him recall who Max was, and as for his general mental health...well, she personally felt like he was only getting  _ worse _ in that department.

So there she was, with an elbow on the table and the side of her face leaned on her hand, holding out one of the sheets of paper and scanning over her notes. At this point, she was just trying to figure out what she  _ hadn’t _ tried yet-

Her phone started ringing randomly, making her jump for a moment before sighing in some annoyance. After all, who the heck would be calling her this late? She set down the paper and got up to go answer it.

However, she didn’t even make it to the phone before suddenly an entire person suddenly just- _ materialized _ in her home, making her eyes widen in shock.

“What the hell-?” the person said, whose back was facing Sybil. They then seemed to look down at something, and, with a raised voice, said, “Where the hell did ya’ take me, ya’ li’l rat!?”

Despite still being baffled by how this person appeared in her house, she figured quickly that they could be a potential threat that needed to be taken care of quickly. And so, without much hesitation, she went and grabbed the nearest thing she could use as a weapon - which happened to be the frying pan that was half submerged in soapy water. The person had clearly heard the shifting of dishes and dripping of water, but barely had a chance to turn their head before Sybil slammed them in the face with an audible  _ clang _ . The person was knocked out at once (what could she say - having to carry around a kid with stone limbs gave her a pretty good upper body workout), and they fell sideways with a  _ thump _ -

Only to reveal the green-spotted, pink-eyed lagomorph, who was panting from exertion and sitting on the floor.

Sybil nearly dropped the frying pan in her surprise. “ _...Max? _ ”

With a small smile and a weak wave, Max managed to reply with, “Hey, Sybil,” before promptly passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 will be posted September 18th!


	4. Home Is Not As Warm As It Should Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has found his way back home, sweet home. However, his welcoming party isn't so sweet.

Flint trudged up the stairs in his apartment building, feeling exhaustion in his muscles despite not having exerted himself at any point during the last few hours. But then again, searching for someone who may not even technically exist in the current timeline for the past six months did take its physical toll as well.

He reached the top floor and took out his keys, striding towards his door. Just as he was putting the key into the lock, he found himself pausing, having felt like something was slightly off. And upon looking towards the neighbouring door on his left, his feeling had been correct:

Where the good ol’ ‘Sam & Max: Freelance Police’ window had been on the door, it was now replaced with plain, black lettering that simply said ‘Freelance Detective’.

“ _ Sam _ ,” he found himself muttering, a tad annoyed, under his breath (although, make no mistake, he wasn't annoyed at his friend by any means). At once, he pocketed his keys and abandoned his door, instead taking to knocking on Sam’s instead.

“It’s open,” the dog said from inside.

Flint opened the door to the office at once, and found Sam sitting at his desk by a police scanner (which happened to be Carol). “Hey, Sam-o.”

“What's up, Flint,” Sam greeted back without actually looking at the man. Or perhaps he did and Flint just couldn't tell since Sam seemed to wear that dark hat of his (which matched the darkened suit he now donned) so low it always shaded his eyes.

“What's with the door?” Flint asked, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at it. “I thought ya’ said you’d leave it.”

“No,” he corrected, “ _ You _ said to leave it alone and wait. And I feel like I’ve waited long enough.” Flint opened his mouth to- “I kept the old one,” he added quietly, “It’s just in the closet.”

_ This _ was the thing the man was irked by - his own inability to keep up Sam’s hopes, for this was far from the first Max-related thing that Sam had decided to hide away. One would almost figure that they’d had a(nother) bad break-up from the way the dog was acting, storing away all this stuff yet having yet to try to get rid of it.

Flint sighed, running a hand through his hair and down to the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Sam. Still haven't found any sign o’ him, yet.”

“Don't apologize,” he replied, “‘S not like he means anything t’ me.”

“C’mon, man, don’t say that. You don’t actually mean that and I know that you know some part of ya’ knows that.” Sam merely grunted, raising an ear and tilting his head towards the police scanner, as if to hear better. “Look - I’m gonna find ‘im, you’re gonna remember, and everything’s gonna make sense again to ya’. I promise.”

Having apparently caught wind of something worthwhile, Sam got up from his seat and said, “Well, whenever that day comes, give me a call.”

“Are ya’ goin’ out again?” the man asked, watching the other pick up his revolver and tuck it away inside his jacket.

“Duty calls,” was all he answered with, before slipping past Flint, murmuring, “Later,” then heading down the hall.

It was what he had been doing for a while now - slipping out at night to go play vigilante like he was Bruce Wayne or something. But Flint understood that, truthfully, Sam was doing it because he couldn’t sleep, and he simply didn’t wish to confront his thoughts. And it seemed that the more he avoided confronting them, the more he began to convince himself that Max had no meaning to him.

With a deep sigh through his nose, the man exited his friend’s office (and living space once more, since Sam had seemingly refused to go back to his actual house), shutting the door behind him then eventually entering his own apartment, going over to his own desk just to slump in the chair and lean back in it, running a hand down his tired face.

He just- he just  _ wished _ that he could have  _ some _ sort of sign that Max wasn’t completely  _ impossible _ to find. At least  _ something _ that he could show Sam to prove that the lagomorph even existed outside of photos-

The phone on his desk rang, and with no hesitation, he casually grabbed it off of the receiver and put it to his ear. “Flint Paper,” he said, trying to keep his exhaustion out of his voice.

“ _ It’s Sybil. _ ”

“Sybil?” He found himself sitting up at hearing her voice. She didn’t call that often as is, but certainly never called his office phone, so one could only imagine his surprise as well as his concern. “What’s up, is everything good?”

“ _ Yeah, everything’s- well...things are kinda weird. _ ”

“How so?”

“ _ I had a man randomly teleport into my house - I dealt with him, don’t worry, Georgie and I are okay, but- you would not believe who is currently passed out on my couch right now. _ ”

Flint stood right up from his seat. “Max!?” She hummed in confirmation. “Holy  _ sh _ \- I’ll be right over. Call Mama Bosco, get her over, too.”

“ _ Okay- _ ” was all she managed to get out before the man slammed the phone down onto the receiver.

“Sam!” he called, rushing out of his apartment and down the hall to try and catch the dog, “Sam, wait!”

. . .

Mama Bosco had ended up arriving first, considering she lived closer to Sybil’s. After being invited into the home, the scientist wandered through for a moment before coming by the living room- “Oh my God,” she murmured, “It actually  _ is _ him.”

“Yup,” Sybil said with a sigh, “He sure is.”

Mama Bosco headed right over to the couch where the lagomorph laid on his back, still out like a light. Just moments before she started inspecting him, she inquired, “Is there anything wrong with him that you know of?”

“No, I don’t think so. He passed out when he got here, but I think it was just from exhaustion. But he didn’t seem hurt or anything.”

The woman looked from Max to the unconscious man that was sitting upright but also unconscious. “And, er...him?”

“Well, probably got a nasty bruise from me hitting him, but-”

“No, I mean- what are you gonna do with him?”

“Oh. I don’t know, that’s partly why I called Flint first.”

“Good call, just...keep an eye on him until he-” Before she could finish the sentence, they both heard a knock on the door. “Nevermind - here he is now.”

Sybil went and opened the door, and surely enough Flint was standing in the doorway. “Thank you for coming - he’s on the couch. And, uh...there's the other guy currently sitting on my kitchen floor-”

“Don't worry, Sybil,” Flint said, “We’ll get things sorted out, here.”

She gave a nod, then stepped aside to let him in. She then found herself pleasantly surprised to find Sam was standing out on her front porch as well. “Hey, you.”

“Hey yourself,” the dog replied.

“Surprised to see you tagging along,”

“Well,” he said with a sigh, “I  _ have _ been waiting t’ see this guy for six months, I guess.”

She hummed. “...Look, whatever happens, try to not to be too…” Her expression looked thoughtful, trying to find the right way to put it.

“...Me?”

“Harsh was what more came to mind. Just take it easy on him, alright? Behave yourself.”

“I’ll try,” was all he replied before fully entering the house. Mama Bosco was still looking over Max while Flint appeared to be figuring out how to deal with the unconscious man. The dog slowly decided to take some steps towards the couch that the lagomorph was laying on, trying to get a decent look at his sleeping face. It certainly seemed to match what he had seen in some of those photos he shoved into a desk drawer, but…

Just then, Max groaned, making Mama Bosco retract her hand out of surprise, and prompted Sybil and Flint to turn their attention towards him. He struggled to open his eyes for a moment, giving a yawn, before his vision eventually cleared - and surely enough, his gaze was directly in Sam’s direction.

The lagomorph gasped in excitement. “ _ Sam! _ ” He immediately flung himself off of the couch before anyone could intervene, rushing over and embracing his husband-

In Sam’s shock and disgust at being touched (not specifically by Max, mind you - just in general), he ended up instinctively reacting by saying, “Hey, get off!” and proceeding to forcibly push Max off of him.

“Whoa, hey-!” Sybil protested, but Mama Bosco held up a hand, and though Sybil didn't fully agree with holding her tongue, she did.

Max looked up with him with wide eyes, feeling hurt but mostly just feeling confused by the dog’s reaction. “Sam, it’s- it’s me. It’s Max.” Sam’s brows were furrowed, but he didn't look mad - he looked like he was thinking. “Y’know, your, uh...husband?”

Sam only continued to stare at him, studying his face. Eventually, however, he sighed through his nose and shook his head, before turning his gaze to the other three and saying, “This isn't working.”

“...What isn't working?” Max asked, turning his gaze to the others as well.

“What isn't  _ working _ is-” Sam started answering.

“Sam,” Mama Bosco interrupted him calmly. The dog looked back at her. “Why don’t you just...help Flint with the other guy?”

Sam looked from her to the unconscious stranger on the floor. Without a word, he walked towards it, and Flint decided to turn back to it as well, as per the scientist’s unspoken instruction.

“What was he talkin’ about?” Max asked her, feeling anxiety beginning to grow deep in his chest. “What was he gonna say?”

“Max,” Mama Bosco said, “I’m sorry to have to break this to you so shortly after your return, but...Sam has amnesia.”

The lagomorph realized what this meant at once, and his ears drooped slightly. “...He doesn’t remember me.”

“We’ve tried everything to try to help him remember before getting you back, but-” 

Sam walked past them, the unconscious man slung over his shoulder with his wrists tied, heading towards the door and, presumably, to the DeSoto. Max’s gaze followed him, that feeling of anxiety now turning into that of guilt. If he hadn’t used that damn  _ watch _ …

“...If you want,” Sybil said, making the lagomorph look up at her, “You could stay here with me for the night.”

Before Max could even open his mouth to reply, Flint said, “Sorry, but I’m afraid that’s a bit of a no-can-do.” His gaze went to Max, and he explained, “I need ya’ t’ come with me so I can get a statement about all of this.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea right now?” Sybil asked. “I mean-”

“It’s fine,” Max spoke up. “I can go.” The lady looked at him with a look of uncertainty, but let it go since it was, ultimately, his decision. “But, uh, before I do - can we get this collar off o’ me?” He pointed right at it.

“I’m afraid not,” Mama Bosco said with a shake of her head. “It’s locked on good, but I couldn’t see anything that could get it to unlock.”

“Oh, fantastic,” he muttered. Nothing like having a shock collar stuck around his dear, little, silky white neck preventing him from using his powers, getting violent, and also apparently using the f-bomb. “Can’t we just saw it off? It’s just metal, right? I mean, if we just cut it here-”

“ _ You _ can go ahead and do that all you like. I’m not doing that for you.”

“That’s fair.”

Sam entered the room again, and said, “He’s loaded up in the trunk.”

“I’m sorry - the  _ trunk? _ ” Sybil questioned.

“Can’t have the guy wakin’ up and tryin’ t’ strangle me while I drive.” He then turned his gaze to Flint. “We ready t’ head back or what?”

The detective looked to Max. “You ready t’ go, furry pal?”

Max opened his mouth to reply- “If he’s comin’, he’s sittin’ in the backseat,” Sam said.

The lagomorph spared a glance towards him while Flint frowned a little at that before Sam decided to turn and leave. “...Yeah, I’m good t’ go whenever,” Max finally answered, though admittedly a little flatly.

“Don’t let ‘im get to ya’ too bad,” Flint said quietly. “Trust me - he’s only actin’ that way ‘cause he’s just as confused about all o’ this as you are.”

Max couldn’t help but scoff good-naturedly. “Actin’ like I don’t know my own  _ husband _ ,” he teased. “As if I wouldn’t know his shtick.”

“Hey, I’m just makin’ sure ya’ know,” he said, beginning to head towards the door. “And just ‘cause ya’ do, doesn’t mean it doesn’t still suck.”

“...Touché,” Max replied, proceeding to follow behind him.

. . .

Eventually, Sam pulled the DeSoto in the small alley between the apartment and Stinky’s Diner (which Max was frankly glad he was able to see both again) and stopped it with the engine still going. “I’m gonna take ‘im around the back so no one sees and gets the wrong idea,” Sam told Flint. “Once I get him outta the trunk, pull ‘er up front.” Flint hummed, and proceeded to get out as he did, walking around to the driver’s side as the dog went to fetch the man.

“We have a back?” Max asked as Flint got back in on the driver’s side.

“Apparently so,” he replied, looking towards the back window as Sam opened the trunk. “Here, why don't ya’ come up here for this.”

“Ugh, gladly,” Max said, scrambling over the passenger’s seat like the gremlin he was, practically plopping himself into it. “Bein’ in the back makes me feel nauseous.”

“I feel that.” After the man said that, Sam shut the trunk and had the man slung over his shoulder again, and patted the trunk to give Flint the go-ahead. Flint proceeded to take the DeSoto out of park and started creeping towards the front parking lot. “So, while we’re at it - why don't ya’ tell me what happened to ya’?”

“Okay, so-” Max explained the incident that had led to Sam getting hit and him ending up in the experimental place- “I just completely screwed up the time, and next thing ya’ know, I was in a cage!”

“That's pretty scary,” the man said, parking the DeSoto again now that it was in front of the building.

“Eh, I’ve had scarier, but anyways-” He continued his explanation about how he had escaped from his cage, mentioning Grimmd, Kendra and the other test subjects- “They had  _ kids _ in there, Flint. They  _ still _ have kids in there. I tried t’ find ‘em and I almost did, but I got caught before I could actually see ‘em…”

“That's...that's awful.”

“Right!? And God, so many people are in there, but how  _ long _ have some of ‘em been in there? Hell, is there even anyone searchin’ for ‘em?”

“Yeah, no, I get ya’. But hey - if part o’ investigatin’ what happened t’ ya’ involves findin’ a whole bunch o’ other folks, then consider it done. Between us three-” Referring to himself, Max and Sam, of course, “-we’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah...but y’know, the strangest part is, I don't think anyone there knew me as well as they should've for the amount of time they were sayin’ I was there for. It's like they knew me, but...didn't know me at all. I mean, Grimmd said I’d never mentioned any husband up until I just sorta showed up there ‘cause o’ the jump.”

“Yeah, Mama Bosco had a theory about that, actually - somethin’ along the lines of ya’ technically not existing between when ya’ jumped and when ya’ arrived t’ the time ya’ travelled to. So maybe those guys technically never met ya’, but they were mentally fillin’ in the blanks or somethin’.”

Max thought about that for a moment and eventually shrugged. “Could make sense.”

“I’m sure she could explain it far better than I ever could. I mean, I certainly ain’t no scientist.” Max hummed. “...Are ya’ wantin’ t’ stay with Sam tonight?”

Max looked at him as if it were the most ridiculous question he’d ever heard, giving a slight laugh. “‘Course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Hey, I’m just askin’. I wouldn’t wanna make ya’ feel like ya’  _ have _ to. If things feel too weird for you two right now, I’m right next door.”

“And sleep in the same space as the dude who tried t’ toss me back into my lagomorph- _ unfriendly _ prison?”

“You wouldn’t be sleepin’ in the same space. You could have the bed while I dealt with him.”

“Oh, Flint. You’re sweeter than a saint at times, but this is an offer I’m gonna have t’ say ‘pass’ on.”

“Completely up t’ you, li’l pal. I just don’t want ya’ t’ feel uncomfortable is all.”

“And I appreciate it.” He lightly patted the man’s shoulders. “But, y’know, I know it’s still Sam. So maybe he’s actin’ a li’l off ‘cause he doesn’t remember me, but I still trust ‘im. ‘Sides - maybe once he’s had my sexy li’l self around for a while, maybe he’ll remember how deeply and utterly in love he is with me,” he joked.

Flint merely gave an amused hum. “Well, good luck in any case.” He opened the door, and said, “Now, hate t’ cut the conversation short, but that guy’s probably bound t’ wake up any minute and unless he tells me what I need t’ know, I plan on makin’ him wish he wasn’t.”

“Give ‘im a good sucker punch for me, will ya’?” Max asked as he opened up the car door. “I feel like he owes me that much for putin’ his stinkin’ hands on me.”

“I’ll certainly make sure t’ do that.” With that, the two got out of the vehicle and went into the building.

Upon getting up the stairs, they found Sam there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, as if patiently waiting for them. “He’s still out,” he said to Flint once they got up.

“Jeez,” the man said, “Sybil must’ve got ‘im  _ real _ good, huh?”

“She certainly ain’t someone I’d wanna tango with on a good day.”

“Well, I’m gonna go in and wait ‘til he wakes up anyway. Catch ya’ later, guys.”

“Night, Flint,” Sam replied before the detective slipped into his apartment, shutting the door behind him.

“...You didn’t mean  _ actually _ tangoin’, did ya’?” Max asked jokingly, a grin on his face. “‘Cause frankly, I think you could give ‘er a run for her money in  _ that _ case.” The dog merely stared at him, causing Max’s smile to falter. And when Sam decided to simply turn and walk into the office without saying anything, his smile admittedly fell. He tried not to let it bother him, however, and went in after him.

Before he had even just barely entered, he had noticed the change of the door window. And jeez, talk about a downgrade. Seemed his absence had not only sucked the humour out of Sam, but his creativity as well. However, as the dog had decided to take off his coat and hang it up on the coat rack, the lagomorph had also noticed the oddly bare walls where their pictures were once hung up. And the lack of a second, smaller desk. And...the drawings he’d made that Sam had, at some point, pinned onto their billboard…

Evidently, Sam seemed to have tidied the place up of him pretty well.

“Are ya’ plannin’ on crashin’ here?” the dog asked as he placed his hat on the coat rack next, prompting Max to look over at him.

“Well, that’s mostly up to you,” he replied. “I mean, Flint’s always right next door.”

Sam looked at him and raised a brow. “And sleep in the same room as that other guy?” That had been exactly what Max had said, and was at least glad to be somewhat on the same wavelength on the subject. Still, he merely shrugged. “...Whatever,” he muttered, moving away from the coat rack to go head to the bathroom. “I don't care what you do or don't do. Just know that if you stay here, you ain’t sharin’ the bed with me.”

“That's fair,” was all the lagomorph replied with. Sad to admit, but it wouldn't have been the first time he didn't sleep in the bed with Sam. There was always their couch - or that laundry basket he had set up as a makeshift bed for the occasional night where he didn't entirely want to sleep alone. Which, frankly, he was wondering where that ol’ thing was, ‘cause after all of the things he had just gone through not that long ago, he didn't feel inclined to sleep on his own.

As he decided to search for that, he heard the sound of the tap water beginning to run, and the light clink of what Max recognized as the sound of a toothbrush lightly tapping its glass as it was pulled out. The lagomorph went into their room, and promptly went under the bed, figuring that's where he had left the basket last. Surely enough, he was correct, and he slid it out, eventually parking it on the left side of the bed, which was his side.

He exited the room, and Sam was still in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. As he was finishing up, though, Max decided to say, “Surprised ya’ didn't decide t’ stay in the house.”

Sam looked over at him, almost looking a little surprised that Max would mention it - or maybe he was surprised by the fact that Max knew. In any case, his reply was, “I ain’t one t’ get too cushy.”

Well, Max knew damn well that was a lie, so obviously this could just as easily have been another case of the dog simply trying to forget about him, which...seemed very counterproductive now that he thought about it that way. How does one try to forget about someone who they already don't remember?

Anyway, Sam was finished in the bathroom, and was now making his way to the bedroom, so Max followed. As the dog was unbuttoning his shirt, he paused, then looked over his shoulder to look at the lagomorph, who was clearly eyeing him, and said, “Do ya’ mind?”

Max, without looking away in the slightest, simply shook his head. “Nope.”

The dog merely grumbled in his throat - the sort that Max recognized as meaning ‘I’m irritated but not  _ that _ irritated’ - and turned his head away, proceeding with what he was doing. As Max continued to observe Sam, however, he found himself tilting his head and frowning upon noticing something. Sam’s shirt seemed a little looser than it was meant to be - and after he had taken it off only to toss it onto the floor beside him, Max could notice just by looking at the dog’s sides that he was thinner than when he had last seen him. The difference was subtle, but Max had certainly noticed it, and the sight made his ears pin back in guilt. Max had known Sam long enough to know that him dropping weight was typically a telltale sign that Sam  _ really _ wasn’t okay. That he was anxious, stressed, depressed - all of that fun stuff.

He’d have to keep an eye on that, he decided.

Max decided to sit in his basket-bed and avert his gaze elsewhere as Sam continued to change. Eventually, his ear flicked in the direction of the bed upon it creaking, and he looked back over to see the dog getting himself situated. “Flint and I are probably gonna need a lot more help from ya’,” he said. “Just in case you were thinkin’ you could just slack off while we figure things out for ya’.”

The lagomorph gave a light scoff. “‘Course not!” He had to refrain from saying  _ It’s like you don’t know me _ because while that was usually humorous, that was simply not the case this time. “I can pull my weight around just as much as you two.”

Sam merely hummed - almost sounding doubtful - before pulling the covers over himself and turning in bed so that his back was facing Max. Since, evidently, that was the end of that conversation, Max decided to lay down as well. Though, rather than lying down and shutting his eyes like he usually would, he found himself lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. Now that it was quiet, it seemed that all of his troubled thoughts, which had been kept at bay during most of this, were now coming to nag at him - which was likely a good sign to the not-so-peaceful rest he could likely expect to have.

Little did he know, Sam, too, had his eyes open, his mind going too fast for him to even consider sleep.

. . .

Doctor Grimmd stood in front of the now open and empty cage with his arms folded behind his back, giving the cage a disapproving look. Just standing behind him was Kendra, who’d been given her jacket back to her by the doctor, and now stood just behind him. “...Sir, I swear, he-”

“Hush,” he said, somehow managing to sound calm even while looking as if there was an anger bubbling just below the surface.

Kendra only shut her mouth. She may have not been one to put up with people’s bullcrap herself, but Grimmd was...well, his temper was something she didn’t particularly wish to mess with.

The doctor turned to look at her, his brows furrowed, and asked, somewhat sharply, “Where is your _partner?_ I believed I told him to be here _ten_ _minutes_ ago, already.”

“I’m sure Pete is on his way, sir,” was all she said, quietly.

He merely hummed impatiently, turning his attention back to the cage of his now lost specimen. And to think, that creature could have placed him so much closer to…

Eventually, there was the clear sound of running bootsteps, and both the lady and doctor turned right as Pete himself - wearing a guard’s uniform - was in the doorway, panting. “Sorry,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “There’s just so many friggin’ turns in this place-”

“And yet,” Grimmd said, clacking his teeth together on the ‘T’ on ‘yet’, “The lagomorph that has never  _ once _ navigated these halls had managed to find the exit. Which you failed to prevent him from finding.”

“That’s not  _ my _ fault! He’s a slippery bastard-”

“ _ Hush _ . I want no excuses.” He looked between the two, and said, “You two were the ones to bring him in before. Now I am asking you to do so again.” He then decided to add, in a somehow colder tone, “As punishment.”

“Punishment for  _ what? _ ” Kendra questioned.

“For your failures. You, too, failed to keep him from escaping, miss Kendra.”

“How was I supposed t’ know that-”

“No excuses. And no more protests. You will find him and you will not come back until you have. Understood?”

Kendra and Pete exchanged a glance. “...Yes, sir,” Pete finally said.

“Perfect. Go. Enough of my time has been wasted with this nonsense - I’ve other business to attend to.” With that, the man and woman made their leave, while the doctor exited after them, heading the opposite way.

“How the hell are we supposed t’ find that guy again?” the man asked. “I mean, he was just some lucky find the first time ‘round!”

“I dunno, but we’ll figure it out. And change out of your clothes before we go - you look like a damn cop.”

Doctor Grimmd, on the other hand, was making his way back down the hall that Max had gone down prior to encountering him, eventually heading back into the room that he had emerged from when he had initially caught the lagomorph sneaking around outside of his cage when he really should not have been. He would never understand why these animals absolutely  _ insisted _ on being so stubborn and difficult, but he digressed.

In the center of the room, there was a table. And on that table, there was something which was covered by a blanket. The doctor approached it, and lifted off the blanket, which revealed a cage which had its top removed (poorly, mind you. The edges where the cage bars were once attached, it was still jagged) - and a whole litter of brown-red-furred puppies, who immediately looked up at him with their wide, beady little eyes. One of them also happened to be wearing a collar similar to Max’s.

“Good evening, little ones,” he said. “Yes, yes, I know - you’re surprised to see me again so soon. But worry not - I’m merely here to move you. After all, I can't have anyone know where you are with the intention of taking you away, now can I?”

The puppies, despite being nearly two years of age and long able to talk (or should have been - he had bothered to teach them basic language but rarely did they seem to use it), merely whimpered in response. The only exception to this was the smaller female, which grumbled warily at him while her arms were wrapped around a ball of white fluff. He proceeded to pull the blanket back over the cage, and lifted it up, intending to take it elsewhere in the facility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 will be posted on September 25th!


	5. Gaining Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Max and Flint work down to track down Max's kidnappers.

It had been about ten in the morning when Flint, while fetching himself some milk for his cereal from his small fridge, heard the man tied to the chair behind him yawn suddenly. He then heard the man say, “God, haven't slept like that in a  _ long _ time.”

Smirking at the fact that the guy  _ finally _ woke up (and seemed to be oblivious to his current situation for now), Flint decided to shut his fridge and temporarily abandon his cereal. “Would explain why ya’ took so long t’ wake up, sunshine,” he said, turning to face the man.

The man snapped his head over in his direction, his eyes widening in surprise. “Who the hell are y-” Before he could even finish asking, he glanced around at his surroundings, suddenly seeming both aware and baffled that this was clearly not wherever he’d thought it had been. “Where the hell is this!?”

“T’ answer your unfinished question,” the detective said, approaching the other. “Name’s Flint Paper. Detective. And you are currently in my office.”

The man looked around again. “...This doesn't seem like much of an office.”

“I make do. Anyway - do you have a name?”

“I do.” Flint waited for him to follow up on that for a moment or two, before he eventually said, “I ain’t tellin’ you.”

“Well, that's fine, Mr.-” He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a driver’s license, and proceeded to read off, “‘Simon Crawford’.”

Simon’s eyes widened. “How the hell did y-” He had attempted to move his arms to pat down his pockets, only, of course, to find that he couldn't move them. “Oh, what the  _ f _ -”

“Ya’ mind keepin’ it down just a bit? For the courtesy of the others in this building.” And by that, he simply meant that he didn't want to have this man’s shrill voice grating on his ear drums any longer than he had to.

“Isn't this kidnapping? Pretty sure this qualifies as kidnapping. Actually, scratch that, I’m  _ definitely _ sure that this qualifies as kidnapping.”

“Then I guess you could consider that an eye for an eye, considering the fact that as far as I know, you kidnapped my friend.”

Simon squinted at him saying that, looking off to the side for a moment, before looking back at him. “...Not quite sure what you’re talking about.”

“You teleported into a poor lady’s house with a lagomorph - white fur, eyes pinker than the Orion Nebula, fancy li’l green spots on ‘im-”

“Oh! Yeah, I know who you're talking about. The weird guy.” After a moment, the man frowned. “I didn't kidnap him, though.”

“Then I guess you don't have too much to worry about, then.”

“...Are ya’ gonna let me go?”

“Sure. As long as you tell me this - where did you and him come from?”

“What do ya’ mean?”

“Well, you teleported from  _ somewhere _ , didn't you?”

“ _ Ohh _ , you're talking about the facility. I can’t tell you where that is.”

“And why not? You protectin’ someone?”

The man shook his head, and said, “No, I really just can’t tell you. I’ve never actually seen the route t’ get there. Not in daylight, anyway.”

“Fair enough. Know anyone who would?”

Simon paused for a moment, looking off to the side, then shrugging and shaking his head. “Nope.”

“You absolutely sure about that?”

“Am I gonna be arrested?”

“Not yet, you’re not.” Certainly couldn’t have the case taken from him by police. If he did, he’d never find anything out.

The man merely hummed doubtfully without responding.

“Fine then. You don’t know how to get there, and you don’t know anyone who would. Tell me what you guys did in this ‘facility’.”

“Can’t tell ya’ that, either.”

“C’mon, you can't be  _ that  _ much of a sheep. You wanna look me in the eye and tell me that you don't know why you were chasing after my poor rabbit-y friend? Why you  _ had _ t’ keep him from leaving?”

“How much longer is this gonna take?”

“That entirely depends on you. Because lemme tell ya’, buddy-” He proceeded to crack his knuckles. “I can do this all day.”

Simon seemed worried at first, but then furrowed his brows and shot a glare at him. “Then I guess we’ll be at this all day, because I don't know anything.”

“With the utmost respect, Mr. Crawford - I just don't believe you.” With that, he decided to pull up a chair and sit right in front of him, and flashed the guy a smile. “Let’s get the real show started, shall we?”

. . .

Max had only ever gotten up at 7AM, he’d like to think, about six or seven times in his life, which, even then, sounded like a lot to him. Well, he could now make that  _ eight _ times, and shockingly, it wasn't because of his own restlessness from the day prior. It was because he had heard Sam jolt in bed suddenly - but before he could even ask what was up, the dog was already getting up and out of bed. By the time the lagomorph could muster the energy to even sit up in his own bed, his ears flopping in front of his face, Sam was already getting changed.

Max moved an ear to peer at the clock that was on the complete other side of the bed. “Isn't it a li’l early?” he asked with a yawn.

“Early for what?” the dog asked quietly.

“T’ exist.”

“Well, unfortunately,” he said as he started slipping on his jacket, “Crime never sleeps.”

Max huffed lightly as he tried to use his hands to straighten his ears back out again. “I  _ wish _ I could say that's one of the cheesiest things you’ve said.” The comment earned him a look from the dog, which made his ears nearly instinctively pin back under his gaze. For all the crap that had gone on in their lives, he could never say he had ever seen Sam’s eyes go so... _ cold _ . They had been full of rage many a time, but never coldness. If Max hadn't known any better, he may not have recognized him while like this.

After staring at the other for a moment or two, Sam didn't respond, and merely put on his belt and continued, “The sooner we start crackin’ down on this case o’ yours, the sooner we can figure it out and move on with our lives.” Okay, ouch. That stung a little. “Join me, don't join me - whatever.”

“Hey, I never said I wouldn't join,” Max said, promptly flinging the blankets off of himself and practically hopping out of bed. Sam hadn't bothered to wait for him, though, and was already leaving the room. Max followed after him, and asked, “ _ Sooo _ , how exactly are we approachin’ this, anyway?”

“I dunno - you tell me,” he replied, taking a seat at his desk.

The lagomorph’s ears straightened and twitched, before tilting his head. “What do ya’ mean?”

“You were the one there, knucklehead.” Well, least his affectionate insults (although not so affectionate this time around) hadn't changed. “If anyone’s gonna know what t’ look for first, it’s you.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, ya’ got a point-”

“‘Course I do.”

Max frowned a bit at the comment, but continued anyway, “I don't really know where the place is. I didn't exactly walk from there.”

“Well,  _ don’t knows _ aren't exactly gonna help us, now are they?”

“Yeah, no shit, Spade,” Max snapped back.

This, admittedly, earned a raised brow from the dog, who quietly hummed and murmured, “Clever.”

“Thank you!” Max replied pleasantly, grateful for  _ some _ form of positive reaction, then frowned at him again, and said, “Now shut it and let me think.” 

Sam hummed again, and decided to kick back his feet, saying nothing. The lagomorph pressed a knuckle to his lips, his brows furrowed as he tried to recall what had happened  _ prior _ to him jumping time. Not that it took much effort to remember the events themselves, but rather the details.

“...It was a van,” he spoke out loud as he recalled it. “It was kinda beigeish in colour, though I dunno how useful that could be t’ Flint…”

“Might still be useful t’ me,” was all Sam said.

“And there were two people. There was a lady - I know her name was Kendra.”

“Remember what she looked like?”

Max opened his mouth to reply, pause, then shook his head. “No, not really. Wasn’t exactly payin’ attention t’ that.” He then decided to joke, “Not really my type. I’m sure you understand.”

Much to Max’s surprise and amusement, he noticed that the dog seemed to jolt back, ears perking as well, as if he had been taken off-guard by the statement. After his moment of what Max assumed was shock, Sam’s ears moved back, his lip curling slightly. “Can ya’ take this seriously, please?”

“Jeez, okay, I get it.” He then added under his breath, “All work and no foolin’ around.” He gave a sigh through his nose, his expression thoughtful before he gave a shrug. “I dunno. She had a jacket that I stole while I was tryin’ t’ escape. It was one of those ones with fleece on the inside. Well, not  _ actual _ fleece, but- well, actually, knowin’ who she’s workin’ with, maybe it was-”

“Stay on topic,” Sam said sharply. “You said there were  _ two _ people. Who was the other one?”

“Oh, right. I don’t know his name, but he was the one that tried to- or...I guess  _ did _ kidnap me. He wasn’t that tall - he was definitely shorter than you were.”

“Five-eight or lower?”

“I don’t know. Sure. He was super pale, too - even  _ I _ could tell that he didn’t get a ton of sun. He was kinda fit, though. Probably would’ve appreciated it more if he didn’t throw a net over me. And also sorta look like a potato-”

Keeping Max from getting off-topic again, Sam said, “Beige van, lady named Kendra with a jacket, and a pale man, fit, and roughly five-eight, possibly shorter. And you suppose these people may know where this place would be?”

“Right. But…”

“But what?”

The lagomorph paused, then eventually said, “Do ya’ think it’d be possible t’ look into another thing while we’re at it?”

“Well, that depends. What is it?”

“The, uh...possibility that animals are goin’ missin’ and no one seems t’ know about it, let alone lookin’ for ‘em.” Sam tilted his head. “I know it sounds weird, but- I mean- I dunno. I guess you’d have had to have been seein’ what I was t’ even think about it.”

“I never said it was weird.” He paused for a moment, turning his head elsewhere, as if in thought, then looked back at Max, shaking his head. “We can’t look into that right now. Maybe after we’ve tracked down the people involved in your kidnapping.”

“But-”

“We can’t help those people if we don’t find ‘em.”

Max paused again, allowing that to sink in. “...You’re right.”

“‘Course I am,” he replied casually. 

It was worth saying that Max was  _ not _ fooled by this so-called ‘confidence’ that Sam was attempting to project with some of his responses. It was more as if he was trying to compensate for the lack thereof.

The dog got up from the desk, and said, “Now, we have a rough idea who we’re lookin’ for. Only question is on how t’ find ‘em. After all, I can’t just blindly go searchin’ the city, combin’ through every van I see.”

Normally, the lagomorph would’ve responded with  _ ‘Well, you could’ _ , but Sam was right on this one - if he wanted to help those poor people in a timely manner, they’d have to find a way to be a little more precise about it. “I dunno. Last time, they just happened t’ be driving past Mama Bosco’s place.”

“That’s too random - they’re not gonna so happen t’ be takin’ the same route as they were six months ago.”

“God, would ya’ stop shootin’ down almost everything I say, I’m just thinki-” Mid-sentence, as if a switch had suddenly turned on a lightbulb in his head, Max went from telling off Sam to snapping his fingers with his ears straightened. “Stinky!”

The dog blinked. “Stinky?”

“Okay, so, full context - that Kendra lady’s a bit of an ice queen. Clearly doesn't like people - I’m sure you could relate.”

Sam crossed his arms. “I don't  _ dislike  _ people,” he said, somewhat defensively, then added quietly, “Least not  _ clearly _ , anyway.”

“Well, you dress like a hitman, so you’re about as subtle as a cactus.”

“I didn't understand a damn word ya’ just said.”

“Me neither. What was I sayin’ again?”

“Stinky.”

“Oh, yeah! I name dropped her to, uh- what’s-her-face, whatever.”

“So what you're sayin’ is you’re thinkin’ she might drop by the diner t’ try and find ya’.”

“I mean, I would. It’d be their only lead - it's not like I was completely blabbin’ or anything.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

“What, that bein’ their only lead or me not blabbin’?”

“Both. But mostly the former,” he said, going to the window and turning his head towards the direction of Stinky’s Diner. “I doubt they’d go on a wild goose chase t’ find ya’. Even if that is their only lead, I doubt it’ll stay that way for long. Especially if Stinky’s involved.”

“ _ Whaaat? _ Oh, c’mon, Sam,” Max said, going over to stand by him at the window. “Stinky’s harder t’ bust open than those toy safes after the kid’s forgotten the password. They're not gonna have the patience t’ try and crack ‘er open.”

“ _ Au contraire _ ,” he replied,  _ not _ butchering the pronunciation for once, “she’s not gonna have any reason t’ lie.” He added in a mutter, “Not unless I talk t’ her first.”

“Don't say  _ au contraire _ .” Admittedly, he was more put off by Sam actually getting it correct. “So, is that the plan then? Try t’ catch these guys at Stinky’s and, I dunno, bust ‘em or somethin’? Make ‘em take us back there?”

Sam looked over at the lagomorph immediately. “‘Us?’” he echoed.

Max blinked at the response, raising a brow. “Well, yeah. I mean, y’ said I needed t’ help in this case, right?”

“I never said you were comin’  _ with _ me t’ help.”

“Wh- and why not!?”

“Why the hell would I bring ya’ with me when  _ you’re _ the one they're lookin’ for?”

“Because, I-”

“No - you are goin’ t’ stay here, and you're gonna keep your head low, while  _ I _ am gonna ask Stinky t’ lemme know if she's sees these people and take a look around myself to-”

“I can handle myself!”

“This isn't a debate. Now I’m gonna head over there, and you are goin’ t’ stay  _ here _ .” He proceeded to go to the coat rack, first grabbing his hat and placing it on his head before slipping on his black jacket.

Max stared at him, his eyes filled with annoyance. “You just don't think I’m good enough t’ handle this, do ya’?”

“I never said that.”

“This whole time, you've been treatin’ me like I’m- I’m  _ stupid _ or something, but I’m not!”

“I never said you were-”

“Well you’re actin’ like it! Seriously, you tell me you need me t’ help, but then you just decide t’ act  _ rude _ .”

“Max-”

“This isn’t you, Sam! You’re not like this!”

With the hat shading the dog’s eyes, he could not fully read his expression after he had spoken that. However, with the silence that fell after he had said that, he realized that what he had said was...not a smart thing to say, clearly.

Eventually, Sam spoke quietly, and the only words he spoke were “Sorry I’m not who you were expecting,” before proceeding to go out the door without another word.

Max could only watch as that door shut closed before exhaling a deep sigh, before slapping the heel of his palm against his forehead and muttering, “ _ Stupid _ -”

. . .

A mere few minutes after he had taken off, Sam was now entering the diner that was located just beside his apartment building. Cleaning some glasses by the counter, of course, was none other than Girl Stinky herself. She didn’t notice right away that Sam had entered, but soon the small cockroach on the counter (which had been given to her six years prior and still stuck around the diner even now) made a light chirp, which led to her raising her gaze and seeing him. 

“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Way,” she said - what likely would have been a joke, if not for the fact that her nature was more on the  _ mocking _ side - as she set aside the glass. She leaned her hands on the counter, and said, “When’s the emo band gonna get back together, hm?”

Ignoring the mockery, Sam merely replied with, “Good mornin’ t’ you too, Stinky.”

“I don’t suppose you’re here to try our breakfast special.”

“I’m not particularly a sickly grey pork beans sort of guy.”

“They’re called lentils, genius.”

Deciding to get to the point, Sam proceeded to say, “I need t’ ask ya’ somethin’.”

She gave a light scoff, and muttered, “Typical.” She picked up another glass and started wiping it down with the cloth. “Couldn’t even wait ‘til noon to bug me. Well, go on - what is it?”

“You haven’t seen anyone suspicious around lately, have ya’?”

“No one other than the usual weirdos that come by - yourself included.”

“Then do ya’ think you could keep an eye out for some people for me?” She didn’t answer right away, merely set aside the glass and crossed her arms, her teal eyes staring at him. “There’s this lady and this man. Lady’s wearin’ a jacket with fleece on the inside, got a guy that’s shorter than me and paler than the Arctic snow. Last seen in a beige van -  _ purportedly _ beige. I couldn’t exactly confirm for myself, of course.”

“ _ Very _ descriptive,” she replied sarcastically. “Seriously - what sort of description was that?”

“If it helps any, the lady’s name is Kendra.”

“What you’re describing just sounds like a pair of hipster tourists or something.”

The door opened behind Sam, but he paid no mind. “Oddly specific conclusion from that, but okay.”

“What are you even asking  _ me _ for?”

“You can thank me for that!” came a voice from behind the dog, causing both him and Stinky to look over. Surely enough, Max had been the one who had entered, and was now approaching the two with that sharp-toothed grin of his. 

“Oh God,” Stinky said quietly, while Sam was frowning. “He’s back.”

He proceeded to hop onto the nearest stool, sitting on it only so that he could lean an elbow on the counter, and continued, “I dropped your name to the lovely lady, and we figure she might wanna stop by, check ya’ out, get t’ know ya’. Of course, I didn’t get the chance t’ tell ‘er you’re a taken woman - mermaid, whatever - and that you’re not really into the whole  _ human _ thing, anyway-”

The girl snapped her attention back to Sam, and said, “Could you make sense of this for me please?”

Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. “Max finally showed up after six months of nothing, and now we’re tryin’ t’ track Max’s captors so we can find where he was taken so we can hold the right people accountable.”

“...Uh huh. Right.” She looked back at the lagomorph and said, “And is the collar for something else, or are you starting to turn to edgy fashion as well.”

“Oh, no,” Max said, “I hate this thing. Say, you wouldn’t happen to have anything acidic strong enough t’ burn this thing, would ya’?”

“I might still have a bottle of Grandpa’s old vinegar.”

“The same one that constitutes as a biological weapon? ‘Cause if so, I’ll take it!”

“Knock it off,” Sam snapped at him somewhat. “We’re not doin’ that.”

“You probably couldn’t even afford it, anyway,” Girl Stinky replied.

“Look - will ya’ keep an eye out for me-” He paused, glancing over at Max, who looked back at him with that grin of his, then corrected himself reluctantly, “For  _ us _ , or not?”

“Yeah, whatever - makes no difference to me. But I’m not calling you just ‘cause I see them. I’m not your spy.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just check back in later.” He readjusted his tie, then said, “Have a good day,” before turning around and making his leave.

“Nice t’ see ya’ again, Stinky!” Max said cheerfully. She didn’t respond, but the cockroach on the counter chirped again. The lagomorph gently patted his back. “You too, SJ.” After that, he hopped off the stool, and followed the dog out.

Sam moved to the front of the apartment to get into the DeSoto’s driver’s seat. And despite Sam’s request from last night, Max decided to hop into the passenger seat right next to him. As soon as Max shut the door, the dog, who had his hands wrapped tight around the wheel, said under his breath, “I told you t’ stay in the apartment.”

The lagomorph exhaled through his nose. “...I’m sorry,” was what he said first and foremost. He noticed the dog look over at him in his peripheral, so he returned his gaze. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. You  _ were _ actin’ kinda like a jerk back there-” Sam shrugged in response to that, indicating that he perhaps realized that was a fair thing to say. “-But I know that’s not...entirely your fault. And what I said - that isn’t your fault either.”

The dog paused, then turned his head so he was staring at the wheel again. “I get it. You were hopin’ t’ come back t’ someone who’d welcome ya’ back with open arms, and instead you got me.”

“Yeah, well...I imagine it can’t be any easier for you. Bein’ told you know me only t’ not remember me even when ya’ see me.” Sam gave no response. “...So let’s- let’s just forget about that for now, alright?” The dog looked back at him. “Okay, let’s forget that I remember you but you don’t remember me, ‘cause that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is findin’ these scumbags, and takin’ ‘em down.”

“...Alright,” he replied. “I can agree with that. I still don’t think you should get involved.”

“I know you don’t, but the thing is, I know that I  _ have _ t’ be. Okay, I promised people in there that  _ I’d _ come back for them.  _ I _ was the one that got taken and held in a cage, and I’m the one they’re comin’ after, so I’m involved anyway.”

Sam stared at him for a moment. “...Well,” he finally said, “If it means that much to ya’, then fine. But you gotta do as I say, alright? Keep yourself outta gettin’ into anymore trouble.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Max said jokingly. The dog sighed, shaking his head, then turned the key to start the car- “Wait, can I ask somethin’, actually?”

“What.”

“Could we grab somethin’ t’ eat? I haven’t eaten anything in, like, twenty-four hours or somethin’ crazy.”

“...Yeah. Sure. We can do that, I guess. I’m pickin’ the place, though.”

“Hey, whatever you like, I probably like, too, hot stuff!”

“I thought ya’ said we were forgettin’ about that.”

“We are! I’m sayin’ this in the shoes of someone who doesn’t know ya’.”

The dog merely grumbled, then finally decided to rev the engine and start driving off.

. . .

“So, that collar,” Sam said once the two had left the convenience store with cold, plastic-wrapped breakfast foods, and a plastic spoon in Sam’s spare hand.

Max, who had already bitten off the plastic wrap to his food and spat it out, raised a brow, twitching an ear. Admittedly, he had forgotten about the collar for a minute there. “What about it?”

“What’s it for? Do ya’ know?” he inquired, getting into the DeSoto to eat.

As the lagomorph got into the passenger side, he said, “Well, aside from deterring me from my violent tendencies and usin’ the four letter F-word, it’s meant t’ keep me from usin’ my powers.”

“Powers?” the dog repeated. “Ya’ look like a nearly perfectly normal rabbit t’ me.”

“There's a reason I use the term ‘lagomorph’,” Max said half-jokingly, before continuing seriously, “I was pretty much born with ‘em, but I never actually knew I had ‘em in…” He paused to think. “...Wow, six years. And I, uh - I used t’ need t’ use these toys t’ use ‘em-”

“ _ Toys? _ ” Sam said with a slight chuckle in his tone.

“Hey, they were no laughin’ matter! They could really screw ya’ up! But anyway, they ended up gettin’ destroyed, but by that point I somehow learned how t’ use ‘em without ‘em anyway, so.” He shrugged.

“I see.” Sam cracked open the lid off of his food, tucking it underneath the tray then grabbing his spoon. “So what sorta powers are we talkin’ about here?”

“Oh, you know - teleportation, mind reading, shapeshifting. I can squeeze myself into tiny spaces sometimes. Um...oh! I also have future vision, but I can't really control that without somethin’ t’ help me focus. Otherwise, it comes and goes as it pleases.”

“That's unfortunate,” Sam said. “There are a few different ways I figure that would come in handy.”

“Yeah, but whatever. If it comes, it comes - I just figure it out at the time.”

“But you can still use these powers o’ yours while that's on?” He gestured to the collar with his spoon before dipping it into his food to take another bite.

“I can, but I kinda get electrocuted anytime I do. I mean, I used ‘em just t’ get  _ out _ of there, and I passed out immediately afterwards, so.”

“Then I guess you’ll be doin’ this investigation the old-fashioned way mostly then, huh.”

“Yeah, guess so!” Max had yet to take a single bite of his food, and by that point he was  _ definitely  _ hungry. So instead of chowing down like a relatively normal person, he decided to take advantage of his partially amphibian biology and shot out his tongue like a frog’s, tearing off half of his breakfast burrito and stuffing it in his mouth, kicking his feet a bit in joy at getting to eat something that wasn't mush.

Sam witnessed this, and could only stare at him with this look of confusion and fear.

Max eventually noticed the dog staring, and although he was more than aware as to why Sam was looking at him in such a way (and finding it  _ hilarious _ , by the way), he decided to feign confusion, raise a brow and, with his mouth still full, ask, “What?”

The dog blinked for a moment or two, his mouth slightly agape, before he eventually cleared his throat and just looked back down at his own food. “Uh - after this, we should, uh...we should take a look around, maybe even ask around-”

. . .

“ _ -See if we can't find ‘em on our own, _ ” came Sam’s voice through the radio’s speakers, the man and woman able to listen into the conversation thanks to the bugged collar. “ _ At least until Flint can get back t’ us with info from that other guy. _ ”

“ _ Whatever you say, you sexy thing, you! _ ”

A groan. “ _ Could you knock that off? _ ”

“ _ Stop bein’ so damn hot, then! _ ”

“Man, this is so awkward,” Pete murmured, sitting in the passenger’s seat and looking visibly uncomfortable. “Thank God the other guy doesn't remember, ‘cause if they start making out, I’m shuttin’ it off.”

“We gotta get that ‘other guy’ they keep mentioning out of there,” Kendra stated, ignoring her partner’s statements. “Or at least deal with him when we find him. The doctor might not want him back if he feels he’s been... _ compromised _ in some sort of way.”

“Oh, come on, we don't have t’ kill him, man. So what if he ends up sharing a thing or two - it's not like they're gonna be able t’ track us down anyway. I mean look at ‘em!” He tapped on the screen that showed the lagomorph’s location. “They're gonna be runnin’ around like chickens with their heads cut off tryin’ t’ find us.”

“Which is exactly  _ why _ we need to be more careful. We need to stay one step ahead of them and keep ‘em from even getting the  _ chance _ to find out where the facility is.”

“Y’know, I wonder if cuttin’ off that li’l dude’s melonhead would cause it t’ grow back,” Pete said quietly, then shrugged and said, “I feel like it would. He’s pretty durable-”

“Could you pay attention? This is serious,” she snapped coldly.

“I’m takin’ it seriously!” he snapped back, then huffed impatiently. “What are we gonna do then, hm?”

“For now, we bide our time. We wait for the opportunity to strike, and when it does, we’ll deal with their li’l  _ hostage _ in whatever way we must, and then we’ll be hightailing out of there with that damn rabbit - whether that be through the easy way or the hard way.”

“Mmm, fine. But I still don’t think we should take ‘im out, man. He might be one of our own.”

“Listen to me and listen to me clearly, dumbass,” she said, turning her whole torso to face him. “There is no ‘ _ one of our own _ ’ when it comes to the facility. Okay, there is only Grimmd and Grimmd’s research, and everyone inbetween is either a pawn or a liability. And I am  _ not _ gonna fall into the latter category  _ just _ because you decided to suddenly gain a shred of humanity.”

He huffed again, turning frontwards in his seat and muttering, “Whatever, man. Do what you gotta do.”

  
“I  _ will _ , thank you very much.” With that, she took the van out of park and proceeded to step on the gas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 will be posted on October 2nd!


	6. Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max continue their search for Max's kidnappers, not knowing that they're onto their every move. Meanwhile, Flint learns some very interesting information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: sorry about there being a line of dialogue in there twice. no clue why that happened, but it's fixed now!! again, thank you to the person who pointed it out in the comments lmao

_ The sound of a phone buzzing disrupted the quiet of the room, and it made both the dog and lagomorph snap their attention over to it, their ears perked- _

A swift zap to Max’s neck made him grunt in pain, snapping him out of his sudden vision with all the gentleness of a rubber band being stretched to the point of nearly tearing only to be sent flying across the room just to smack into whatever was unfortunate enough to be in its path. The lagomorph clutched onto the collar with both hands, attempting in vain to put  _ some _ distance between it and his throat, all while muttering between clenched teeth, “Stupid friggin’ thing-!”

Sam, who had admittedly been startled by the sudden zap and grunt from the other and had nearly swerved right onto the sidewalk because of it, glanced over at him before looking back at the road ahead. “You good there, li’l buddy?”

Max snapped his head over to him, his ears straightened at the nickname. After a moment of stunned silence, he cleared his throat and released the grip on his collar. “Uh- yeah, no, I’m good. Just, uh-” He tapped the red light located on the center of the collar with an index finger. “Accidentally set this thing off, that’s all.”

“How so?” the dog questioned as he turned a corner. He then added jokingly, “Said the F-bomb under your breath?”

“Actually, as painfully coincidental as it is that this happens shortly after I brought it up, I had a future vision.”

This made Sam’s ears perk forward in interest, but then said, “Ya’ sound awfully unexcited for somethin’ that ya’ explicitly said doesn’t happen often.”

“Well, that’s just it - I only caught a short glimpse before this dumb thing decided t’ interrupt. So all I got out of it was us noticin’ that your phone was goin’ off.”

“That’s still not entirely useless information. Could ya’ give me any more detail than that?”

“Mmm, not anything other than it was dark. Like, night time dark. And you were in bed. That’s about it.” He decided to veto the fact that it was implied that Max was in the bed as well - partially since it wasn’t entirely clear and partially because he wasn’t sure how comfortable that’d make Sam feel.

Sam merely hummed, scanning the roads as they drove by (which, by the way, Max hadn’t failed to notice that his driving speed hadn’t changed at all - and thank God for it, because otherwise this drive around the city would’ve been  _ so _ long and boring). “Well then,” the dog eventually said, “Guess I’ll just have t’ keep an ear out for my phone ringin’ at night, then.”

“Here’s hopin’ it actually plays out the exact same way.” He then proceeded to explain, “Sometimes just by me or both of us knowin’, things get a li’l scrambled.” He put a finger to his chin, then murmured, “Although, if it’s just someone callin’ ya’, there’s not much room for deviation, I guess.”

“As I said - guess I’ll have t’ keep an ear out.”

The lagomorph hummed in agreement, and the two both went quiet for a few moments. That was up until the DeSoto happened to pass by a particular house with a rickety fence that made Max’s ears shoot right up and his posture straighten. “Hey, that was  _ our _ house!” he said cheerfully, a large smile on his face. When he received no response, he looked over to see Sam, who seemed to be slightly frowning. His own smile faltered slightly, and he began to stammer, “Well- I mean- technically it’s just  _ my _ house. It, uh, it  _ was _ left for me. Of course, that doesn’t make it any less  _ ours _ , but if sayin’ that isn’t-”

While Max continued to ramble to try and ‘fix’ what he had said, the dog merely sighed through his nose then started turning the wheel, doing a U-turn.

Despite being preoccupied talking, Max didn’t fail to notice what he was doing. “Whoa, hey, Sam, what’re you-”

“Shut it,” Sam replied, though it was more quiet than sharp or even annoyed.

“Look, I’m sorry, I wasn’t tryin’ t’-”

“I said shut it.” 

The lagomorph decided to take the instruction and clamped his mouth closed. By that point, Sam had the vehicle facing the opposite direction of where they were going, and was driving back down it. He sped back down it for a few seconds before eventually slowing it to a stop (unlike his typical fashion of stopping it so fast the car jerked forward). Surely enough, he was now parked in front of the house Max had taken the time to point out.

Max blinked, his nose twitching a bit before the sound of the driver’s side car door opening made him turn his attention to see that Sam was getting out. He stayed in his seat, looking puzzled. After Sam had gotten out, however, he turned and looked at Max and asked, “You gettin’ out or what?”

“Wh- ...why?”

The dog gave a light shrug. “Ya’ said it's  _ your _ house, right? And ya’ seem excited t’ see it after six months.”

“Aren't we in the middle of a search?” Max asked, although corners up his lips were twitching upwards.

“We don't have t’ stay in for long.”

Finally, Max decided to unbuckle his seatbelt and crawl over the driver’s seat to hop out of the car. While Sam shut the door behind him, the lagomorph found himself slowly approaching the fence, looking up at it with almost an expression of awe. 

Just as Sam was pulling up behind him, Max found himself taking a breath through his nose. “It’s good t’ be home,” he murmured. After he had said that, he proceeded to lift up the latch to the gate and pushed the gate open, revealing the short walkway to the front step. As they both proceeded to walk up it, Max said to Sam, “So, you’ve been here?”

“Mm, a couple of nights, yeah. Felt weird stayin’ there, though, so I switched t’ the office.”

“Thought it was just ‘cause you weren't one t’ get cushy,” Max teased.

“I can have more than one reason.” Max smirked slightly at that. “I locked it when I left, by the way. Tucked the key inbetween the mailbox and the house.”

Max checked once they got to the door, and surely enough, there it still was. He took it and unlocked the door, and as he reached for the handle to finally open it, he said to Sam, “Mind your head - the door’s a li’l short.” With that, he opened up the door and entered, Sam following in behind him before shutting that door as well.

Max found himself staring at the living room - at the old furniture and the old wallpaper still attached to the walls despite the house’s age. He ran his hand across the coffee table that was just in front of the couch and noticed that there wasn't any dust on it at all, unlike last time he was there.

Noticing the way the lagomorph rubbed his fingers together, Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “I ended up dustin’ while I was here. The dust was sorta buggin’ my nose.”

Max decided to refrain from mentioning the fact that he remembered Sam sneezing quite a bit when they first went into the house. Instead, he decided to explain, “This used t’ be my great-grandpa’s place. Apparently, he’d left it t’ me forever ago, but I only found out earlier this- well… _ last _ year now, technically.” He then added in a murmur, “Barely even got t’ move in here.”

“Sorry t’ hear that,” Sam said. “If it means anything, I left the boxes alone. I didn't think it was right t’ dig through ‘em.”

“Well, ya’ can if ya’ want to.”

“I’m good.”

Max looked from him back to the room, looking at the TV stand with a built-in cupboard (there was nothing in there - he checked) then at the old, broken grandfather clock that stood in the corner. “I think it’d be cool t’ get that thing fixed,” he said, pointing at it. “I think it’s got a cuckoo clock in there.”

The dog hummed, then said, “I don’t think I’d ever want one, personally.” Max looked at him, so he explained, “They seem like they’d be pretty loud.”

There was admittedly a part of him that was fascinated by Sam’s answer, considering he had made no comment on the clock when Max had suggested fixing it six months back and had, in fact, just gone along with the idea. It prompted him to look back at the clock with a tilt of his head. “Y’know, I didn’t even think of that,” he admitted. “But you’re probably right.” He gave a sharp-toothed grin and said, “Least it’s pretty t’ look at!”

“It does seem awfully fancy.”

“Yeah, well my  _ papá _ had excellent taste-” He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening in realization. “Wait a second...speakin’ o’ good taste, lemme show ya’ somethin’!” With a bounce in his step, he started taking off through the house before the dog could even verbally agree. Still, he decided to follow him anyway.

Max tore through the house for a few seconds before hopping onto the rail of some stairs, going ‘ _ wheee! _ ’ as he went down, with Sam going down the stairs at a normal pace. Max flew off the edge of the rail and onto his two feet and waited for the dog to catch up, flapping his hands while he did so. Once he did, Max gestured to the room and said, “This here’s my  _ favourite _ room in the whole house.” He then added teasingly, “Other than the  _ bedroom _ of course.”

“Put a sock in it, ya’ li’l Bunnicula.” The lagomorph merely giggled in response. Sam turned his attention to the room, however, and at once noticed the many swords that were in the room, most of which were hung up on the wall, although some appeared to be in glass cases. “...Are these all...real?”

“As real as it gets, baby!” Max proceeded to start walking through the room, and Sam decided to follow behind him out of respect for the other’s home. “My great- _ papá _ Maximus inherited almost all of these from an entitled rich guy that was his father-in-law, but this is only a small chunk of what he inherited. The rest of ‘em, he tracked down most of the original owners and gave it back to ‘em. The few he couldn’t find, he decided t’ keep with him here. The rest are just gifts.”

“Awfully humble of him,” was all Sam responded, looking over the swords.

“Well, if anyone knew what it was like t’ have crap taken from ya’, it was him. The guy did a lot of things t’ try and make the world a li’l better - as cheesy as that sounds.”

“Least he tried. That’s more than most can say.”

“Ooh!” Max said, stopping suddenly in front of a glass case. “This one’s my personal favourite.” He carefully removed the top of the case and set it aside, then gently lifted the sword within it, turning it in his hand to show it off to Sam. The blade was curved, and somewhat squared off at its tip. “ _ Papá _ ’s father-in-law absolutely  _ insisted _ this was the Sword of Sammun-Mak, but, y’know, he was wrong. Maximus had been t’ the tomb before and saw the sword himself. But his father-in-law was like ‘no, you’re wrong, this is the real thing’. So anyway, Maximus kept it out of spite of that moment.”

“Did ya’ really know your great-grandpa long enough t’ learn  _ all _ of this?”

“Nah. I found this out through reading a bunch of his old journals and stuff. He didn’t learn how t’ write until he was eighteen or nineteen, so he liked t’ practice a lot. Say, do ya’ wanna hold this?”

“Pardon?”

He held out the handle to the sword and said, “Hold it!”

“Oh.” Pause. “Are ya’ sure?”

“Of course! All you’re doin’ is holdin’ it, it’s no big deal.”

Although still seeming hesitant, Sam eventually reached out and carefully took the sword’s handle from Max. He lifted it, turning it to see both sides of the blade before gently placing it in his opposite palm. “It’s, uh...it’s pretty light.”

“It is. Isn’t it cool though?”

“Very,” he said, actually giving a slight smile with the word.

Max was hopping up and down a little bit on his feet, his smile only widening with his joy. “Y’know, it's pretty cool that I get t’ share this stuff you all over aga- erm.” His smile fell for a moment upon realizing his mistake, then, when he noticed Sam look over at him, he flashed him an awkward smile. “I...talk a lot, don't I?”

“You do,” the dog agreed. “I don't really mind.” He then added jokingly, “I mean, I deal with Flint almost everyday, so,” Max gave a small laugh at that. Sam’s smile fell, and he carefully placed the sword back in its case. “I, uh- I should probably get back out there.”

As Sam put the lid back on the case, Max said, “You mean  _ we _ should probably get back out there, right?”

“That's entirely up t’ you.” The lid gave a soft  _ click _ once it was properly in place. “Least ya’ got a nice set up t’ come back to after this,” he murmured.

“Yeah, well, it’s a pretty big house,” was all Max said.

“It sure is. Perfect for havin’ plenty of people over if ya’ wanted, though.”

“Maybe once those assholes are caught, I’ll throw a big, loud party,” the lagomorph said jokingly, following behind Sam as he started to head off, “And you can come arrest me for disturbing the peace.”

“Whatever ya’ say, li’l buddy,” he replied sarcastically, though not failing to notice how Max beamed after he said that anyway.

. . .

The man tied to the chair breathed heavily, his lip busted and his eye bruised and nearly swollen shut. The detective, on the other hand, was seated in front of him, his knuckles turning purple and his hands folded in front of him, exhaustion beginning to become evident on his face after having been at this for a while. It had even gotten to the point where he had attempted to get it out of the man by force, but the man being questioned was remaining as stubborn as ever. “This could be infinitely more easier, y’know,” Flint said quietly.

“I could say the same t’ you,” Simon replied.

“You clearly know something, but you’re not sayin’. And you say you’re not protectin’ anyone, but I find it hard t’ believe you’re doin’ this t’ avoid self-incrimination. Especially since I’m willin’ t’ bet any money that you know you’re goin’ t’ jail for kidnapping anyway.”

“I  _ told _ you, I didn’t kidnap him.”

“Then you’re an accomplice. Either way, you’re still not innocent.”

“If I’m not, then why haven’t you handed me over t’ the police yet?”

Flint got up and started pacing somewhat, placing his hands on his hips. “Because I don’t trust the police to handle a delicate matter like this, especially when there are innocent lives at risk, here. There are children involved, for God’s sake.” Upon stating the word ‘children’, he noticed the man’s eyes widen before quickly averting to the ground. This made Flint pause mid-step and stare at him. “You know somethin’ about that?”

“No,” he lied.

“Really?” He proceeded to sit back down in the chair across from Simon. “‘Cause ya’ seemed awfully surprised t’ hear me mention it.”

Simon swallowed, avoiding eye contact with the detective before him. “I...I can’t say. If I do, then they’ll come for me.”

“I really hate t’ break it to ya’, but I’ve dealt with a whole deal of immoral scumbags over the years, and I’ll tell ya’ from experience that it doesn’t matter what you do or don’t tell me. It wouldn’t have even mattered if ya’ never spoke a word t’ me. If they find you, they’re gonna assume you’re a threat to ‘em in some way and take care o’ ya’ anyway.”

“And the alternative is, what, trusting you?”

Flint spaced a glance at his own knuckles, then murmured, “Fair point.” He looked back at Simon, though, and said, “But I can promise I’ll keep ‘em from doin’ anything to ya’.”

“You think you can take ‘em on?”

“I’ve dealt with far crazier, far stranger things and still won. A few people don’t scare me. So yeah, I do think I can take ‘em on, and I think I could keep ‘em from gettin’ near ya’ if I had to. But if you want to  _ ensure _ that you stay safe, then you need t’ tell me  _ somethin’ _ that can make that happen.”

The man continued to remain silent, still appearing visibly nervous. “...Doctor Grimmd’s screwed up, man - I don’t even think the guy’s even a real doctor or anything.” Flint sat back in his seat as he listened intently. “He, like...I dunno. He targets these animal folks that won’t have anyone who’ll miss ‘em. Or, least, aren’t in a good position. I think he does the same with people, but instead of putting ‘em in cages, he hires ‘em.”

“What does he want them for?”

“The dude’s always talking about improving and healing, and getting rid of ‘imperfections’, but I don’t have a damn clue on what he means by any of that. And I think he avoids usin’ actual people so that he can slip under the radar.”

“So he uses the, for lack of a more appropriate term, ‘the next best thing’.”

“Mhm.”

“So what about the kids?”

Simon heaved a deep sigh. “It’s...a li’l confusing to me even still, so I dunno if what I’m saying will make complete sense, but t’ start from the beginning - I have no clue where he got the kids or how. I just sorta...overheard ‘im tellin’ his drivers t’ go pick ‘em up one day, and in a few short hours, there they were in the facility. I think it was around the same time your friend got brought in, actually, now that I think about it.” Flint leaned forward in his seat, intrigued. “Shortly after he got ‘em, though, he said they were, like...I dunno, some  _ key _ t’ something.”

“Do you think it had anything to do with this… _ ’getting rid of imperfections’ _ deal he had in mind?”

“It had everything to do with it. I-” He faltered for a moment, as if realizing what he was about to share with the man. “...You can seriously keep me safe from those guys?”

“Yes.”

“...I took a peek at some of the files he kept,” he confessed. “The shifts get long and boring when you’re a security guard working in a place that rarely needs you ‘cause of how orderly things were, and nothing was locked or anything, so I looked at ‘em just to see what exactly it was I was supposed to be keeping from getting out. And in the report for the kids, it- it said- I’m sorry, it just still doesn’t make any sense t’ me, but- it said one of them had...abilities.”

Flint blinked at that, his mouth opening slightly in surprise. “...What sort of abilities?”

“It never exactly specified, just that he clearly thought that it was some fantastic discovery, that it would help greatly progress his work- actually, he also mentioned that they could be replicated or reproduced - I dunno what it said, his handwriting’s not the best - and that it was some blessing to be able to find two people with these powers, and that he hoped he could find it in the other kids, too-”

The detective was mentally piecing the puzzle presented to him together, and as he drew closer to the answer, his eyes widened in realization, which then prompted him to ask, “Was the word ‘Psychic’ used anywhere?”

Simon had to stop and think about it, and went quiet for nearly a minute just thinking before answering, “Actually, I think he did say that somewhere, yeah.”

Immediately after he had said that, Flint stood right up from his chair and said, “Excuse me, I need t’ call someone right now.”

As Flint took out his phone from his pocket and headed for the door, the man said to him, “Could ya’ get me some ice once you get back?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever you need, just a minute please-” With that, he was shutting the door and pressing the phone to his ear, tapping a finger against it as he listened to the rings, impatiently waiting for it to be answered.

After the third or fourth ring, there was the brief sound of white noise before Sam answered. “ _ What’s up, Flint- _ ”

“Is Max with you?” he interrupted.

“ _...Uh, yeah, why? Did ya’ get something? Ya’ sound frantic. _ ”

“Yeah, and I think he should hear it first.”

He heard the sound of Sam saying something far from the phone, then Max’s voice came on the other end. “ _ Sam said ya’ needed t’ tell me somethin’, what’s u- _ ”

“One of those kids is a Psychic.”

There was a long silence on the other end. “ _...What? _ ”

“I was talkin’ to the guy that teleported with ya’, and he was tellin’ me about the kids, and he said that Grimmd has a report that explicitly says one of ‘em has abilities and he said he even used the word ‘Psychic’.”

“ _ Okay, Flint, I know you’re not the type of guy t’ jump the gun, but are you  _ **_positive_ ** _ that that’s true? ‘Cause this is a li’l more than just a big deal if that’s the case if so. _ ”

“He’s too nervous. I could read ‘im like an open book from the start, he’s just got too many tells. He couldn’t make this up if he tried.”

He heard Max say something to Sam, though he couldn’t quite pick it up with the white noise going on in the background. Eventually, Max said, “ _ We’re comin’ back. I wanna talk t’ this guy myself. _ ”

“Alright. I’ll be out here waitin’ for you two.”

. . .

Before long, Sam and Max were getting out of the DeSoto and were heading towards the apartment building. As they did so, the dog said, “So lemme get this straight-”

“Nothin’ about ya’ is, but go off,” Max joked.

“-There's apparently someone with powers just like yours?”

“Yup, and now I’m gonna be a breathing lie detector except it buzzes no matter what, ‘cause I need t’ confirm myself this guy ain't screwin’ around.”

“Are people with abilities like yours rare?” he asked as they started quickly making their way up the stairs.

“Not only are they rare, but at this point, it should be impossible for any new ones t’ exist. With the toys destroyed, there should be nothing to activate ‘em with anymore.”

“Do ya’ think there's a chance this Grimmd character has one and you just never realized?”

“Nope. Zero. I’m all for defying laws of logic but that would be a massive stretch even for me.”

“Then maybe they just don't need these toys to activate ‘em. I mean, you said you don't need ‘em t’ use ‘em.”

“I guess...maybe I oughta talk about Papierwaite and Yog about this eventually.”

“Papierwaite and who?”

“Y’know, Yog-Soggoth? Old God?” Sam merely stared at him. “Right, you probably wouldn't remember either of ‘em. That's fine - I know where they hang out. I can do the talkin’ when the time comes.”

“Should I be at all worried about the ‘Old God’ part?”

“Not unless you’ve developed a specific fear of squids in the past few months.”

When they reached the top floor, they found Flint standing right outside his office, having been patiently waiting for them to get there. As soon as he saw them come up, he said, “He’s right inside. But be careful - he’s got one arm free right now.”

“What,” Sam said.

“It’s just so he could put some ice on his face without me doin’ it for him. He can’t get out and he can’t reach very far, but I’m just warnin’ ya’ just in case.” He nodded to Max, and said, “I definitely made sure t’ give ‘im a good hit in for ya’, by the way.”

“Why, thank you!” Max replied pleasantly. He then gestured to the door, and said, “May I?”

“Go right ahead, pal,” Flint said. With that, Max turned the handle and pushed the door open, revealing the man inside, who indeed was pressing an ice pack to his now black eye.

Simon seemed almost surprised to see the lagomorph before him. “Oh, it’s...you,” was all he could apparently think of to say.

“It sure is!” Max replied. “Bet ya’ almost didn’t recognize me without your greasy mitts tryin’ t’ manhandle me, huh?”

“I was just doin’ what I was meant to,” the man muttered.

“Mhm. ‘Course ya’ were. Anyway, if I was here t’ roast you and tell ya’ off for nearly sabotaging my chance t’ taste freedom again, you’d already be shittin’ yourself. But I’m not! I’m here ‘cause my  _ confrère _ told me you mentioned somethin’ about another Psychic.”

“Lemme guess - you’re wondering if I’m telling the truth.”

“Yeah, no shit. Sure as hell wouldn’t be speakin’ to ya’ otherwise if I wasn’t.”

“What reason would I have t’ make this up? Why bother being so specific about it?”

“Evidently, Doctor Grimmd wasn’t happy with my escape, so for all I know, you could just be spewin’ complete and utter bullcrap just t’ lure me back in there. Which is pretty pointless considering I was plannin’ on goin’ back and helpin’ those poor people  _ anyway _ , so you may as well-”

“I’m not lying! I swear to whatever God there is out there, I’m telling you the truth.”

“Well, technically,  _ I’m _ a God, so you better hope that I like what I see.”

“Like what you...what do you mean?”

With that, Max pressed two fingers to his temple, and extended his opposite hand towards him. As soon as those pink eyes of his began to glow, the zapping of the collar began as well. He did his best to ignore the pain, however, clenching his teeth together as he powered through it, trying to focus on reading the man’s mind and extracting the wanted information from it.

As he did this, Simon attempted to recoil back in the chair, though of course he couldn’t move much thanks to the fact that he was still mostly tied up. “Wh-what the hell is he doing-”

“Shush,” Flint said sharply as both him and Sam kept an eye on the lagomorph, both of them mentally prepared to step in if necessary.

Max’s mind reading lasted only about thirty seconds before his eyes flickered out, and the collar stopped buzzing. Immediately after he’d stopped, he stumbled backwards, threatening to fall. Actually, he did nearly fall and pass out right then, but the dog had been quick to move in and catch him from behind. 

Max rubbed his eyes to the point that he was no longer sure if the colours dancing around his vision were because of that or being electrocuted, and blinked them a few times before looking up at Sam. He gave him a weak smile and patted his arm. “My hero,” he teased.

Sam merely stared at him for a solid five seconds before releasing his grip and allowing the lagomorph to drop onto his back on the floor.

“That’s fair,” he said, his limbs completely sprawled out on the hardwood.

Flint decided to bend over to look right at Max’s face with a puzzled look. “So?”

Max hopped right back to his feet, brushing himself off. “Well, you’re right - he’s too dumb t’ be lyin’ about this-”

“ _ Hey! _ ” the man said defensively behind him.

“-But bonus is now I have a rough idea where those files might be.”

“That’d be useful,” Sam said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “If we were any closer t’ figurin’ out where the facility was…”

“Guessin’ that means you two haven’t had any luck findin’ anything yet,” Flint murmured.

“Unfortunately not. Cruisin’ around the city, we’ve had no luck in seein’ any suspicious van. We’ve got Stinky lookin’ out just in case-”

“‘Cause I mentioned her t’ that Kendra character!” Max added in cheerfully, not noticing Simon blink.

“-But who knows if that’ll actually get us anywhere.”

“Well, I’m sure you two’ll figure it out. You always seem to in some way or another.”

“That’s because we’re awesome!” the lagomorph chimed in.

Flint gave an amused smile before looking over at Simon and saying, “Say, since these two are here, is there anythin’ else ya’ wanted t’ add?”

Simon promptly shook his head. “Nope. Nothin’.”

Flint’s smile soon fell upon noticing how the man appeared nervous once again, his brows furrowing. “You alright there?”

“Uh- y-yeah, I’m fine. Just still a li’l weirded out from, y’know, having my thoughts intruded is all. Feels  _ seriously _ strange.”

The detective ended up exchanging a glance with Sam, but Max just simply shrugged and said, “That’s fair I’ve had people in  _ my _ head several times, and I can confirm it’s pretty weird.” He flashed a sharp-toothed smile, and added, “But thankfully,  _ I’m _ weirder.”

“Are we done here?” Sam asked.

“Yup! I found out what I wanted t’ know.” With that, Max decided to exit Flint’s apartment, and Sam and Flint decided to follow behind.

Flint shut the door behind them, and Sam immediately said, “He got all weird when he heard ‘Kendra’. I could hear his heart start poundin’ harder than a hammer fallin’ on a tile floor in an empty basement in the dead of a full moon night.”

“I wouldn’t say  _ that _ loud,” Max said with a raised brow. “Maybe put a rug on that floor, and  _ maybe _ .”

“Glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed,” Flint said quietly. “He was tellin’ me he was worried about people findin’ him and hurtin’ him or worse, though.”

“Ya’ think  _ she’s _ one of the people he’s worried about?” the dog inquired.

“I don’t see why,” Max said, shaking his head. “She didn’t seem like anything special, just cranky.”

“Obviously, he perceives her as some sort o’ threat. No one has that sort o’ reaction t’ someone’s name without good reason.”

“I’m with ya’, Sam-o,” the detective said, his hands propped on his hips. “I’ll ask ‘im about ‘er, but I can’t guarantee I’ll get an answer. Took this guy a while just t’ tell me as much as he did and that was after convincin’ him I could keep him safe.”

“I, uh - think ya’ convinced him with a li’l more than just that, Flint.”

“Okay, yeah. That too. Point is, though, if she’s a threat in his eyes, he might not be quite as convinced.”

“Well, I’m gonna say what’s on my mind - I’m thinkin’ if he thinks there’s someone that’s gonna come after him and said person may very well be someone that could come after Max, then I don’t think we should have ‘em so close together if we can help it.”

Flint raised a brow. “Ya’ thinkin’ about stayin’ at the other place for a while?”

“I think it’d be the smarter thing t’ do, yeah,” he replied, then found himself looking down at the lagomorph beside him, who was blinking up at him as if almost a little puzzled by the suggestion. “Uh- just until this blows over and there’s no immediate threat anymore, of course,” he decided to add, looking up from Max to adjust his tie and thus missing the smile Max gave.

“Well, can’t say I disagree. I suppose keepin’ ‘em so close together never was the greatest idea, so it makes sense.”

. . .

“ _ Whatever it takes t’ keep Max safe, _ ” Flint finished, his voice coming through the speaker.

“ _ Right _ ,” Sam replied.

At once, the woman let out a frustrated groan, slapping the button on the stereo to shut off the audio coming through before flinging herself back in her seat. “Damn idiot can’t keep his friggin’ mouth shut. He’s completely blowing everything.”

“Yeah, well, let’s just be lucky they haven’t gone t’ the cops with this crap, yet,” Pete replied. Kendra let out a long sigh, pressing her fingertips to her forehead in her stress. “...What are we goin’ t’ do now?”

“What the hell do y’ mean, ‘what are we gonna do?’”

“Well, they’re gonna end up bein’ separated now. So are we gettin’ the rabbit, or are we-”

Without warning, the woman back-handed his hat right off of his head, sending it flying into the back seat of the van. “We’re still goin’ after both, you moron!” she yelled at him. “We’re not picking one or the other just ‘cause looselips there decided to spill his guts.”

“But how are we meant to get both when they’re-”

“Obviously, we’ll just have t’ split up the tasks - deal with ‘em both at the same time, just like we originally intended.”

The man frowned doubtfully. “Isn’t that, like...really risky? Like, almost...unnecessarily risky?”

“That’s why we take the time to  _ plan _ these things. I know your dim-wittedness makes thinking a little  _ difficult _ , but in terms of finding a way t’ time it, it’s really not that complicated.”

“Okay, but...who’ll go get who, then?”

“As much as I can’t see you doing  _ either _ task, it’d be better off if  _ I _ took care of Doctor Grimmd’s wishes.”

“...Meaning you’ll get the rabbit?”

“And you’ll deal with the rat. And I trust that you  _ will _ deal with him, or else  _ I _ will deal with both of you.”

“I dunno, I just- I still  _ really _ don’t think it’s right to-”

“It no longer matters what you think,  _ Pete _ . He’s told on us. We need to take him down, there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it.” A slight look of realization dawned on her expression, and she added, “In fact, we need to take out the detectives, too. We can’t let them wander around, knowing what they do. We need to silence them.”

“Whoa, isn’t that takin’ it a li’l too far? I-I mean, they won’t even find where the facility is if-”

“No. We can’t leave  _ anything _ to chance, understand? We need to deal with this crap, and we need to deal with it now and as efficiently as possible. Absolutely  _ no _ witnesses.” Pete didn’t respond, merely stared at her for a moment before tossing his gaze aside. She then turned forward in her seat, resting one hand on the wheel. “We’ll still go when it’s late as hell, when no  _ normal _ person will be awake.”

“Then again, this is the ‘city that never sleeps’,” he said quietly.

“Shut up. Is the plan clear t’ you or not?”

“Yes, ma’am, perfectly crystal.”

“And are you going to  _ follow through _ with it?”

“We gotta do what we gotta do, and if that means all o’ this, then...yes.”

“Perfect.  _ Don’t _ screw this up.”

He found himself staring out of the passenger window, a thoughtful furrow in his brow. Still, he found himself saying, “Yes, ma’am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 will be posted October 9th!


	7. Striking Past Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max try to get a peaceful sleep, only to have it interrupted with an abrupt phone call.

So, it had been decided by Sam that Max should not stay within the apartment building alongside Simon Crawford, who believed he was going to be targeted by one-half of the very people who had kidnapped Max and potentially going to attempt to do so again. And since Sam was refusing to let the lagomorph stay there on his own with the lingering threat, he was preparing himself to go to the house with him.

He had only a cheap plastic bag from whatever store he had gone to a week or so ago set on top of his dresser, and he was opening up a drawer only to fetch a set of pyjamas. After all, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t stop by the office later if he had to - but if he could keep his visits to a minimum, it’d be for the better.

Max watched him as he searched for stuff to bring with him to the house. There was temptation to inform him that some of the stuff he was looking for was probably already there, but for the sake of not confusing him, he stayed quiet. Instead, he was rambling, “Y’know, I think you’ll like stayin’ there more now that I’m around. Probably feel less like you’re sleepin’ in some rando’s house and more like a sleepover.”

“Probably,” the dog murmured in response, stuffing some sweatpants and a t-shirt into the plastic bag, then moving towards the bathroom for his toothbrush.

“Could treat it like a sleepover too, if ya’ wanted! Pick out some crappy movie, eat greasy food-”

“I feel as if though you’re taking the reasoning for this set-up a li’l too lightly.”

“I’m just tryin’ t’ make some light of a stressful situation!” The dog merely grunted. “... _ Can _ we at least grab a pizza or somethin’?”

There was a pause as Sam tossed his toothbrush, toothpaste and rinsing cup all into the plastic bag. “Sure,” he finally replied.

“Yes!” Max said, doing a little fistpump. Make no mistake - he’d find a way to convince him to chill on the couch and watch some cheesy, low-budget movie with early-2000s quality despite being made closer to the present day. Actually, now that he thought about it, six months was probably plenty of time to expand the list of options a bit.

“I’m guessin’ I’ll be takin’ the couch once we get there?” Sam assumed - and was mildly surprised by the light, amused scoff the lagomorph gave.

“Ya’ already know there’s bunk beds there,” Max replied.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Look, I’m not tellin’ ya’ t’ do anything you’re not comfortable with, but at the very least, I’ll point out that the whole purpose of a bunk bed is t’ take away the intimacy of sharin’ one bed by makin’ it two beds attached to each other instead.”

Sam hummed for a moment. “Guess it’d be better for us t’ stay in the same room,” he admitted.

“Probably!” Max then noticed that the dog seemed thoughtful, which made his ear twitch. “What’s up?”

“Nothin’, I just…” He said in a murmur, “I should probably grab my journal.”

“Journal?” Max inquired as Sam moved across the room to place the plastic bag on the desk before searching its drawers. He wasn’t aware that Sam kept any ‘journal’.

“It’s a, uh- I dunno. Just a thing I work on, I guess.”

“Oh,” was all Max said.

Sam shut the drawer, obviously not finding what he was looking for. “Dammit, where’d I put that thing?” He moved from the desk into his bedroom.

When the dog had been looking in there for a full minute, Max finally found himself looking over at the closet. “Maybe it’s in here?” he called, reaching for the knob.

Sam peeked his head out of the room, and- “No!” The sudden raise of his voice - which, by the way, was the most startled Max had heard him since reuniting with him, and it almost sounded strange given the demeanour he’d been trying to put out the whole time - made Max recoil his hand out of surprise, looking over at Sam, who he could clearly see was wide-eyed despite the shadow over his eyes. Sam then cleared his throat and said, “Uh- that’s...not necessary, ‘cause I, uh- already found it.” He then lifted the journal (one of those cheap ones with a fancy design that one could find in a dollar store) up, as if to prove his statement.

“Oh! Well, that’s good, I guess,” Max replied, though admittedly still seeming a little puzzled by the dog’s sudden outburst. He had no clue what could have been in there to warrant such a reaction, but obviously if it elicited such a response from Sam, then it was not his place to question.

Sam proceeded to toss the journal into the bag along with his other things, though the lagomorph could notice there was now awkwardness lining his body. Once he picked up the bag by the handle, he said, “So, uh- pizza. What kind?”

“So you know that deluxe special at Meesta Pizza with all of the, uh-”

“I sure do,” he replied, already pulling out his phone.

. . .

“Alright, Simon,” Flint said with a sigh, “This is the  _ last _ time I’m askin’-”

“No, it’s not,” Simon interrupted.

“- _ Who _ is Kendra? Why did you react to her name with nervousness? Is she a threat?”

“Look, detective, the girl’s just  _ nuts _ , alright!? She’s probably on her way down here as we speak - she probably already  _ knows _ where I am!”

“Why? How? You need to give me more detail than-”

“Nu-uh! I’ve spoken too much as is. Dammit, why’d I have t’ say anything to you!? You can’t help me!”

“Yes, I can, I can protect you, I promise-”

“You don’t get it, she will  _ kill _ you! Alright, she has  _ no _ problems with murdering someone, it’s  _ scary _ .”

“Listen, I have had more than my fair share of those types of people, okay? Hell, one of those sorts of people happens to be my neighbour. She’s tried to poison me with peanuts then tried t’ throw an axe at my head. Now, admittedly she only did that because I was investigating her for a potential conspiracy involving her tryin’ t’ kill her grandfather-”

“This isn’t helping. Like, I cannot emphasize how this is not helping.”

“Sorry. Look, my point there was, I’ve dealt with these people before. Whatever she’s got goin’ on, she’s probably small potatoes t’ me. But again, I can’t help ya’ unless I know more.”

At this point, Flint could very well see the droplets of sweat going down the man’s forehead. Simon could only press his lips together in a tight line, averting his gaze off to the side and shaking his head slightly. Everything about his body language showed that he was fearful, and yet he couldn’t simply keep his mouth shut. “...Look, she’s just the garbage lady for Grimmd, alright? Her and Pete both.”

“Pete?” Flint repeated. That must have been the other guy Max had brought up - the one that had actually thrown the net over him.

“I’m pretty sure she hates ‘im, but they’re quite a pair - and loyal as hell t’ Grimmd. If there’s anything he doesn’t like, all he’s gotta do his snap his fingers and they’ll get it done for him.”

“Smart,” Flint murmured. “Keeps his hands clean by sendin’ them instead.”

“Mhm.”

“And what makes ya’ think she knows where you are?”

“I don’t know. She’s ruthless. If anyone could find someone from nothing, it’s her. She’s real clever. Pete...not so much. Actually, I sorta like him better, but I still wouldn’t tussle with him.”

“Makes sense.” He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “...I still hold true t’ my promise. No one’s gonna touch ya’ in here. Only fate I see for you is turnin’ you in after these guys are busted.” Simon hummed doubtfully. “I know it ain’t ideal, but let’s be frank - you’re not innocent. And I get it, you might have come from a rough patch that led t’ this, but you’re still involved in a much larger problem.”

“Whatever. I was manipulated. I had no idea what I was getting into.”

“You didn’t exactly back out, either. But-” He slapped his hands on his thighs, “-that’s a debate for some other time.”

The man raised a brow as he watched Flint stand up from his seat. “And where are  _ you _ going?”

“Ideally? T’ bed. You should rest up, too.”

“In what? In  _ this? _ ” He shifted his tied up arms to emphasize his point.

Flint paused and stared at him in the chair for a lingering moment. He eventually sighed through his nose, crossing his arms, tapping his finger against his bicep in thought. “I can...let you sleep on the couch,” he said hesitantly.

A few minutes later, he had the guy practically tied up like a cocoon and lying on his back on the couch.

“Y’know,” Simon said, annoyed, “When you said ‘I can let you sleep on the couch’, this isn’t what I had in mind.”

Flint merely responded by draping a blanket right over the man. “Sleep tight.” With that, the detective took his leave to his bedroom - and made sure to lock the door after shutting it behind him.

“...How the hell am I supposed t’ even use the bathroom like this?” the man muttered.

. . .

How the rest of Sam and Max’s night had gone was about as one had expected it: Max ended up turning on a bad movie after all, and considering there was nothing else to do in terms of of killing the rest of the time, Sam ended up watching anyway, much to the lagomorph’s triumph. Max did his best to give Sam space, so they were on either side of the couch at first, but by the time the movie was over, they had been half lying on the couch right next to each other, Max’s shoulder just barely touching Sam’s arm without either of them noticing.

Much to Max’s surprise, as soon as the first movie had been over, the dog asked, “Wanna watch another one?” And, really, who was Max to say no?

By the time the second movie had finished, Max was asleep. Well, actually, more like he was too tired to get up so he closed his eyes, content with his fate of sleeping on the couch. Sam had other plans, however, and had scooped him up and brought him up to bed, dumping the rabbit right into the top bunk. After a few minutes spent changing out of his normal clothes and brushing his teeth, soon the dog was lying down in the bottom bunk and falling asleep as well.

All had been relatively peaceful up until the sound of whining had reached Max’s ears, prompting his eyes to shoot right open. He continued to listen to the soft whimpers for a moment, just to make sure he was hearing them correctly, before getting up and going to the edge of his bunk, his ears now flopping as he peered down to look at Sam. Sam had his back turned, and was clearly asleep - but there was no mistake that the sound was coming from him.

With a frown and a concerned furrow of his brow, Max proceeded to climb down the ladder. With Sam being practically pressed against the wall, Max got up onto the bed, his knees sinking slightly into the mattress. He instinctively extended one hand out towards the dog to place on his shoulder, but then retracted it, figuring Sam wouldn’t appreciate being awoken like that. Still, he couldn’t just leave the dog like this - typically if he was whimpering in his sleep, whatever dream he was having was  _ bad _ .

Max swallowed, brushing one of his floppy ears out of his face, half mentally preparing himself for whatever reaction he may or may not have been about to receive. Finally, he said quietly, “Sam?”

As if a switch had been flicked on, the dog opened his eyes and gasped, immediately scrambling to sit up, which prompted Max to quickly back up to give him his space. Sam glanced around quickly, his breathing laboured, until his gaze finally fell onto the lagomorph beside him. “What?” he asked, practically sounding out of breath. “What are you-”

“I’m sorry - you were whimpering, I-I was just tryin’ t’ see if you were alright…”

“Oh,” was all Sam said. He turned his gaze away, almost looking a little embarrassed to have been caught in such a state. He pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them.

“...I’m sorry,” Max apologized again, putting his hands down on the mattress in preparation to start crawling backwards, “I can just-”

“You can stay.”

Despite the current floppy state of his ears, Max’s ears perked up for a moment, his nose twitching. The dog’s words had been quiet, but Max understood that they were genuine. So the lagomorph silently readjusted himself so that he was now sitting beside the other. 

The two remained silent for a long few moments, before Max quietly said, “...Nightmare?” Sam gave a soft sigh through his nose, then hummed in confirmation. “Figured.” More silence. “...Wanna talk about it?”

At first, the dog said nothing, so Max didn’t either, nor was he surprised by the silence. Although Max would always ask, Sam rarely ever seemed to want to discuss what horrors his subconscious had forced him to witness, seeming more content in just holding his partner closer and trying to forget about it.

So imagine his surprise when Sam actually started speaking.

“...I’ve had this exact same dream nearly every night since I lost a part of my memory,” he started explaining. “Almost nothing else happens in it, and yet it plays out the same. It’s always me and some... _ giant creature _ .” Max’s ears perked slightly at that, but said nothing. Sam didn’t notice; he simply continued, “And we’re just...starin’ at each other. And my heart’s hammerin’ so hard it feels like it’s gonna burst outta my chest, but...it’s not tryin’ t’ hurt me or anything. It’s just...staring. And I can’t- I can’t tell if it’s a threat and I’m in danger, o-or what, it’s just...it’s so strange...”

_ You weren’t in danger, _ Max thought immediately, but held his tongue. He remembered exactly what Sam was speaking of - which also meant that he knew that what Sam was speaking of was actually more of a  _ memory _ rather than a dream. Obviously he couldn’t just tell him that, though. Not without accidentally confusing or, hell, even distressing him further. So he simply murmured, “Sounds freaky.”

“It is...but…” His eyes grew half-lidded, and his gaze fell onto the end bedpost. “At the same time, I don’t think I’m actually...afraid of  _ it _ …” He unwrapped his arms around his knees to lean back on his hands, extending his legs. “I think what it is is my fear of never recovering my lost memories manifesting itself into a dream that causes me t’ get anxious and confused despite nothin’  _ bad _ actually happenin’ in it.”

The lagomorph blinked. “That’s...pretty deep. You get some of that lingo from Sybil?”

“Actually, t’ be completely honest with ya’-” He turned his eyes towards Max. “I haven’t told anyone else about this.”

“...Oh,” Max said in a tiny voice. To say he was surprised by that statement was  _ somewhat _ of an understatement.

“...Lemme guess - you’re wonderin’ why  _ you _ , right?”

“A little, yeah.”

He gave a gentle huff. “...See, I  _ know _ all of those other guys are just- just tryin’ t’ help. I mean, it’s perfectly understandable - if your friend has amnesia, you should help and support him in whatever way you can, and you should try t’ help him remember, but...it just leaves me feelin’ like I’m missin’ somethin’. Like I’m...not  _ whole _ . I’m broken and they’re desperately tryin’ t’ put my pieces back together, but no matter if they try t’ glue ‘em together or try t’ force clay in between the cracks, nothin’s workin’. They have all these expectations that I’ll get better, and it just leaves me feelin’  _ bad _ for not bein’ able t’ meet them. And I know you had those expectations, too, but...the fact that you were willin’ t’ drop ‘em, and t’ try and disconnect yourself from me...I dunno. I guess it just meant a lot.”

“...Well,” Max said after a long pause, having taken a moment to process it all, because it was...a  _ lot _ , to be honest. “I just figured there’s no point in havin’ those expectations. I mean, if you remember, you remember.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then ya’ don’t. Either way, we’ll figure somethin’ out. We always do.”

“Could you really learn t’ live with someone who doesn’t recall marryin’ you?”

“Yeah. I do, actually.”

The dog stared at him for a few moments, then turned his gaze away, remaining silent for a few beats. “...It’s strange - I don’t remember you, yet you’ve been the one thing t’ plague my thoughts for a whole half of a year.”

“Well, that’s just called bein’ gay,” Max murmured quietly, almost hoping to have cracked the joke quietly enough that Sam wouldn’t have heard. Sam  _ did _ hear, however, and in response, he purposely flopped Max’s ears so they were directly over his face, to which the lagomorph had to try and stifle his quiet laughter as he pushed them back again. “Sorry, I’m takin’ ya’ seriously, I promise - I just couldn’t help myself. You and your soliloquies, I swear. Your inner theatre nerd comes out clear as day.”

“It’s not a soliloquy,” Sam corrected, “It’s more of a monologue…” He trailed off, his eyes growing somewhat distant, as if suddenly in thought. “...Pardon me,” he said, then proceeded to reach right over the lagomorph’s lap and for the plastic bag that he had left there. After some crinkling of the plastic, he eventually sat back in his position again, now with the journal in hand. “Y’know, I, uh...just speakin’ of the other guys tryin’ t’ help me...Mama Bosco asked me t’ start this journal. Asked me t’ write whatever I could remember, t’ see if it’d help me remember anything.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“Yeah, well...I was just thinkin’...maybe you could help fill in some of the blanks? Now that you’re here.”

Max’s brows raised slightly. “You sure?”

Sam nodded. “Maybe it’ll help me remember. And even if it doesn’t, it doesn’t hurt t’ at least have the story straight, right?” Max opened his mouth to reply- “Don’t even think about it.”

Max shut his mouth into a sharp-toothed grin, before saying, “I’ll get a pen and a flashlight,” swinging his legs over the edge of the bed with the intention of taking off and finding those items. And as he made his way towards the door to do so, he could swear he could pick up the faint sound of the dog’s tail thumping against the mattress.

. . .

The old man exited the diner after his granddaughter, who shut the door and proceeded to shove the key into the knob, metal scraping against rusted metal.

Girl Stinky groaned at the noise. “We seriously need to replace this damn knob.”

“And Ah’m tellin’ ya’ that unless it stops lockin’, there's no need.”

“You sit on a gold mine, and yet you're still as stingy and as stubborn as-” she started saying, but stopped upon turning and noticing someone coming down the alley between the diner and the apartment building. Grandpa Stinky followed her gaze, and without either of them uttering a word to the other, they took a step back into the shadows, making it so they were both obscured by the darkness.

The man that was coming down was a pale, short man, with a hat worn over dark, short hair, and he stopped as soon as he got to the end of the alley, the nearest street lamp casting a white light across his face. Although he had a hand casually shoved in his pocket, the way he was looking around made it clear that he was looking for someone.

_ Or looking to see if anyone was around, _ Girl Stinky thought, frowning a bit with a furrow of her brows. Without breaking her gaze from the guy, she reached into her own pocket, wrapping her fingers around her phone.

“Wait,” the elderly man instructed. She gave him a somewhat pointed look at first, but otherwise said nothing.

There was soon a distant crackling noise, however, and soon she saw that his hand wasn't just casually shoved into his pocket, because he was pulling out a walkie talkie instead. He held it to his ear for a moment before placing it back in his pocket and taking a turn, heading in the direction of the apartment. Soon after, he was fiddling with the handle, looking in either direction (though not noticing the Stinkys, thankfully) before managing to get it open and walking in.

“Ah had a feelin’ that was where that was goin’,” Grandpa Stinky muttered, the both of them finally stepping out of the shadows as the girl pulled out her phone. “And who the hell are  _ you _ calling?”

“I might have told Bitzer I wouldn't call if I saw his target, but I suppose if said target is going to break into his building-” She put the phone to her ear as it rang, “-I could at least have the decency to warn him before he potentially catches a bullet or some crap.”

“...Okay, so there-” Max said, pointing to a paragraph in the journal with his free hand, a flashlight in the other. “-there’s at least twelve to fifteen times I flirted with you and you remained completely oblivious to each and every one of them-”

“I’m startin’ t’ question how truthful some of these are.”

“I’m bein’ entirely serious! You didn’t catch on that I had a thing for ya’ ‘til prom.”

“What happened at-” 

The sound of a phone buzzing disrupted the quiet of the room, and it made both the dog and lagomorph snap their attention over to it, their ears perked. The two of them stared at it, before exchanging a knowing look. Without uttering a word, Max simply picked up the phone and handed it to Sam.

Sam answered it, and pressed it to his ear. “Hello?”

“ _ I found your guy, _ ” Girl Stinky said, getting straight to the point.

“You have?” Sam asked, sounding surprised, immediately abandoning the journal and pen and throwing the blankets off. Max started moving just so he could get out of the bed. “Where is he?”

“ _ He’s in your apartment building as we speak. Figured I should let ya’ know. _ ”

“What about the girl?” he inquired, picking up his spare t-shirt that he had brought with him. No time to throw on his usual button-up.

“ _ If I saw her or their van that may or may not be beige, I’d have brought it up, now wouldn’t I? _

“Shit,” was all Sam mumbled, proceeding to hang up on her without warning, then tossing the phone to Max. “Call Flint, see if you can’t wake him up and tell ‘im what’s happenin’.”

As Max proceeded to dial the number, Sam threw on his jacket over his shirt, and searched around for his revolver. By the time he found it and stuffed it inside his jacket, the lagomorph was lowering the phone and shaking his head. “He’s not pickin’ up.”

“Dammit,” he cussed, finally throwing on his hat. “We gotta get over there -  _ now _ .” Without a second thought, Sam proceeded to rush downstairs, with Max following closely behind.

They both rapidly made their way down the stairs, their footsteps loud in the quiet, half-empty home. The dog stepped off the last step and the lagomorph followed a millisecond behind-

_ Click _ .

Max froze in his step, eyes widening at the unmistakable sound of a gun that was prepared to fire, and before he was even aware that he was warning his partner, “Sam!” escaped from his mouth.

Sam stopped in his tracks and found his eyes falling on a lady with a fleece coat, a shotgun in her hands. He promptly pulled his revolver from his jacket and aimed, putting pressure on the trigge-

**_BANG!_ **

“ _ SAM! _ ” Max cried as the revolver clattered to the floor, and the dog’s back and head banged harshly against the wall before sliding down, landing hard on his rear and slumping over somewhat. Without hesitation, he went right over to him to check on him. He could hear Sam still breathing - and the wound he had received appeared to only be in his shoulder - but it also seemed that he was unconscious. “Sam, speak t’ me-!”

Upon him saying that, he heard mildly amused laughter from the woman, and his pink eyes immediately shot a nasty glare at her. “Talk about deja vu,” she commented with a slight smile. “Your husband - useless - and you-” Her smile fell then, her expression turning cold. “Left at the mercies of the facility.”

Max was too furious to say anything. All he could do in response was take a couple of quick, heavy breaths before curling back his lips and letting out an enraged snarl. For the umpteenth time, the collar started trying to fry his neck, and for the umpteenth time, he paid no mind to it, and he proceeded to rush right towards her, teeth bared and claws ready to tear right into her, his ears (which he hadn’t even had much of a chance to straighten) flopping behind him.

When he had flung himself towards her face, she barely had a chance to try and get her arms up to defend herself. A bit of a mistake on her part, because all he ended up doing was clamping his teeth down on her arm, earning a pained yet annoyed yell, the sound of her gun hitting the floor following suit. She attempted to shake him off to no avail, before trying to hit him against the nearest wall to try and get him off. All the while, the collar was zapping him relentlessly, beginning to rapidly sap away his energy despite his best efforts to hang on tight.

Eventually, however, he couldn't hang on as tightly any longer, and as soon as his jaws loosened, she proceeded to fling him to the floor, and he hit it with a loud  _ thwap _ . He was quick to get to his feet, though, and was pulling prepared to pounce again - but his ears were now getting in the way of his face. And in the split second he took to scramble and try to remove them from his vision, she was already on him, slamming her boot right into his face and sending him tumbling backwards.

Before he could even get up, Kendra slammed that same boot right down onto his chest, pressing down  _ just _ enough so he couldn't move much. And where Max would normally have been able to snap the ankle of anyone who dared to do that to him, with his rapidly weakening state, he could only feebly try to claw into her leg to no avail.

Eventually, he started to succumb to the collar’s electrocution, and his hands slipped down to the floor limply upon passing out.

The woman let out a half relieved, half annoyed huff. “Fuckin’ rabbit,” she muttered. She then scooped up her gun and the lagomorph, and walked right past the unconscious dog as she made her exit.

Shortly after she’d shut the door behind her, Sam let out a low groan, raising his head and looking around a little dazed. He saw no sign of Max, yet where his brain was still trying to catch up, he didn't quite register it yet.

He became vaguely aware of the smell of iron and...ozone? Man, how hard had he hit his head? He followed the scent, and found himself looking at his own shoulder. The fabric had been torn where he had been shot, and past the blood that was leaking from the wound, he couldn't help but notice the way his fur around it seemed discoloured. 

He pulled back the fabric a little bit, and his eyes widened in shock upon seeing a dark shade of blue slowly spreading from the wound across his brown fur - and blue electricity sparking from the injury.

“What the-” he started whispering, before perking his ears at the sound of a vehicle starting outside. It finally clicked in his head what exactly was happening, and he found himself scrambling to grab his gun, then tried to stand up, hissing at the shooting pain in his shoulder but paying no mind to it. 

As soon as he could stand, he swung open the door and half stumbled, half ran outside onto the front lawn. By the time he did, however, he could hear a vehicle’s engine roaring, and saw the beige van tear up the street beside the house before turning, speeding in front of it and taking off.

With a growl in his throat, and (unbeknownst to him) sparks in his veins, he immediately ran to the DeSoto and got into the driver’s side, slamming the door and starting the engine. A mere moment later, he was squealing the tires as he rapidly reversed out of the driveway, leaving tire marks on the cement.

. . .

Meanwhile, as Pete ascended the stairs of the apartment, he was pulling out a pistol that he had stuffed in the back of his pants, cocking it right before reaching the top level. He merely glanced at the door that had the window with plain, black lettering that read ‘Freelance Detective’ before turning to the one on the right of it, lifting up his foot and kicking the door right open.

Simon flinched awake as soon as the door was kicked open, and as soon as he saw the other man with a gun in his hand, his eyes widened, and he started saying in his panic, “Whoa, whoa,  _ whoa _ , hold up! Hang on-”

“Shut the hell up,” Pete cussed lowly at him, aiming his gun right at him.

“Hang on, hang on- I didn't tell ‘em anything-”

“Bullshit.”

“It's not, I swear it's not. I’m not a rat-”

“Dammit, I said shut  _ up! _ Listen, I don't wanna do this, but I gotta, else I’ll be toast, too! So just shut up, and don't make this any harder than it needs t’ be.”

“No, nonono,  _ please-! _ ”

Right as Pete was beginning to pull the trigger, there was a clicking sound of what sounded like a lock being unlocked which made him hesitate - long enough for Flint, in a tank top and boxers, to suddenly fling open the door with one hand with a gun of his own in the other. “Put the gun down,” he ordered at once.

“Oh, you've gotta be kidding m-” Pete started saying in frustration, before proceeding to turn his aim towards the detective and firing. Flint ducked down and out of the way, causing the bullet that was fired to impact the wooden door frame instead. Flint aimed and fired, and Pete proceeded to yelp as the bullet nicked his gun hand, thus making him drop the gun. Before he could try to grab it, however, the detective was moving forward and pistol-whipping him right in the jaw.

While the two men engaged in a hand-to-hand fight, Simon decided to take this opportunity while they were distracted to try and high-tail it out of there while he still could. With his arms and legs bound, he started to wriggle himself, trying to sit himself upright so that he could get right onto his feet. He failed - miserably - and ended up just rolling onto the floor. This prompted him to look back at Flint and Pete, though it seemed that, having apparently lost his own gun during the ordeal, Flint was too busy punching him and Pete was too busy trying not to get punched. Deciding that trying to get to his feet was pretty much hopeless in his current position, he started doing a sort of worm-like crawl across the floor and towards the open doorway. By the time he got out into the hallway, Flint decked the intruder hard enough to send his hat flying.

As Simon continued to wiggle his way to freedom, he looked behind him again, just to make sure that no one had noticed his escape-  _ aaand _ ended up falling down the stairs with a startled cry, hitting each step on the way down with an audible  _ thud _ . Now, how the hell he managed to not only get down there without anyone hearing him, but also cause the rope around him to unravel was  _ completely _ beyond him. But needless to say, once he realized his limbs were free, he bolted, tripped over the rope still lingering around his ankles, shook ‘em off, got up and bolted again, right out the door.

The detective uppercutted Pete, causing him to stumble backwards. The heel of his foot ended up catching the very gun he’d lost at the start of the fight, which caused him to slip with a surprised yell before landing hard on his back, a small groan escaping him before he ended up passing out.

Flint stood over him, panting, and cracked a slight smile. “See, Simon? Told ya’ I could- keep ya’...safe.” In the middle of his sentence, he’d turned his head to look over towards the couch only to find the man was gone. 

His attention immediately turned to the doorway, and he left his apartment room and entered the hallway, approaching the rail and leaning over it to try and see if he could catch the man. All he saw, however, was the rope.

“Shit,” he cussed under his breath. Great - how was he supposed to figure out where the facility was  _ now? _ He lightly tapped his finger against the rail in thought, before raising his gaze in realization, and looking over his shoulder at the unconscious intruder behind him.

. . .

Meanwhile, Max was finally coming to again, his vision spinning for a moment before finally recovering from the daze. Upon seeing the dark ceiling and hearing the engine roar, he sat right up, looking around him quickly. It appeared that he was now in the back of the van, with a caged window that he presumed led to the front seat, and seemingly no interior handles which he guessed was the most surefire way to ensure no captive of theirs could escape. There were windows, but they were also caged, and much too small for him to fit through anyway. He was free to move around - but he couldn’t leave.

Deciding it would at least be useful for him to know where he currently was, he looked through the windows first. He had to jump a little to reach them, but with the bars there, it was pretty easy to wrap his fingers around them to hoist himself up. Almost immediately after doing so, he could see the DeSoto, which was driving so close to the back of the van that it would be threatening to rear-end it if not for the fact that the van - somehow, in some way - was outspeeding the other vehicle.

When he noticed the cyan, vein-like markings on Sam from all the way there, however (well, frankly, they were hard to miss), he did not find them odd. The only reasoning for this being that Sam had had his abilities long enough for him to know that if he was angry, such an effect would occur. What he  _ did _ find strange, however, was the fact that they lingered, rather than fully consuming the dog’s form to allow for his powers to come through in their entirety. It almost seemed as if he was fighting it.

And truthfully, whether Sam knew or not, he was fighting it. He had no clue what was happening to him at that moment, but he didn’t care, and thus he ignored it to focus on rescuing the lagomorph - which, of course, in turn, meant he was fighting it. 

He was trying hard to try and catch up to the van, in the hopes of either ramming it enough to get it to swerve off of the road or cut it off. However, it seemed that the head start it was able to get was just inconvenient enough that he couldn’t do either. 

He once again growled in frustration, his grip on the wheel tightening. As soon as he did that, though, he barely had the chance to notice the glowing lines creeping up his wrists before something from his hands sparked. The spark seemed to travel directly into the wheel and throughout the DeSoto, and before he could even register what just happened, the vehicle’s engine roared, and suddenly lunged forward, the front bumper hitting the back of the van hard.

This caused Max to lose his grip and tumble backwards, his back hitting the metal wall behind him. He did, however, manage to catch the surprised cursing of the woman driving upfront.

Sam had absolutely no clue as to why that happened, but he decided to take advantage of it and readjusted himself so that he was now driving up alongside the van. As soon as he was beside it, he proceeded to turn the wheel and ram into the side of the van, the sound of metal screeching against metal resounding loudly, even over the sound of the two vehicles’ engines.

Max nearly fell over upon the van suddenly shaking, and although he wasn’t able to see the DeSoto, as soon as he heard Kendra hiss, “ _ Dammit! _ ”, he knew exactly that it had been the reason for the sudden shake. 

He hopped up to grab the window between the backseat and front seat and craning his neck to try and see out the passenger window, where he could just make out a piece of the DeSoto’s hood-

The woman smacked a hand against the cage, nearly making him flinch. “Get the hell off o’ there!” she yelled at him, right before the entire van shook harshly to one side again. “God friggin’ dammit-” she cussed again, before proceeding to turn the wheel sharply, making the van turn so fast to one side that it almost seemed like it could potentially just flip over onto its side entirely. It managed to succeed in the turn, however, and was soon zooming down a street, with the DeSoto being left in the dust-

Only for there to be a chain link fence at the end with some dumpsters in front of it, effectively blocking the way.

“ _ Shit! _ ” Kendra slammed onto the brake, managing to skid to a halt before accidentally ramming straight into one of the dumpsters. As soon as she was stopped, she looked into one of the rearview mirrors on the side of the van, prepared to try and back up - only for Sam to block the exit with his car.

She practically glared into that mirror, breathing deeply, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the steering wheel. Finally, she put the van into park, and proceeded to reach over to the passenger side to grab the shotgun, exiting the vehicle.

Max’s breaths quickened a little as he hopped from the front seat window to the back window, watching outside as the woman circled around and stood directly behind the van, her weapon at the ready. He then saw the DeSoto door open, and the dog emerged from it. 

“You don’t know when t’ quit, do y-” she started saying, but upon seeing the current state he was in, though, Max noticed her lower her gun slightly in shock.

Sam paid no mind to her surprise, and demanded, “Hand over the lagomorph - now,” his eyes beginning to glow under the brim of his hat.

She merely stared, wide-eyed, before her expressions turned fearful yet hostile, and proceeded to quickly lift up her gun with the clear intent to shoot. And without hesitation, the dog pulled his revolver from his jacket - which, to Max’s surprise, appeared to be glowing. Actually, it was to  _ Sam’s _ surprise as well, but he’d already pulled the trigger upon pulling it out, so before he could even internally question why the hell sparks were going up his arm and his gun was glowing, his revolver was already firing off a beam of energy so strong he had to grab his arm to try and keep the kick-back from being too harsh-

Max gave a startled yelp as he quickly ducked off to the side, just narrowly avoiding that energy beam piercing right through the back of the van and burning the wall that blocked off the front seat before dissipating, leaving a blacked mark on it as a result. He heard the sound of someone thumping against the pavement, and peered out of the large hole to see Kendra lying on the ground, undeniably dead.

With a grimace, he proceeded to squeeze himself through the hole, making sure not to step on the woman in the process. As soon as both feet were touching the pavement, he turned to look at the dog - and upon seeing him wide-eyed and trembling, his brows furrowed in concern. “Sam?”

As soon as his name was spoken, Sam seemed to snap out of whatever alarmed stupor he had been in, glancing at his gun (which was smoking cyan) and then the damage it had caused. Finally, he just looked at Max and said, “Get in the car.”

“Are you sure that's-”

“Just get in the car,  _ now! _ ”

Despite his worry for the dog’s current health, he decided to go with it - one, to avoid working Sam up any further, and two, it was probably best for them to get away from this rather destructive scene anyway. As soon as he got into the passenger’s side, Sam got in on the other, shutting the door hard and tossing his gun in the backseat.

“Sam-” Max tried to get in one last time, but was interrupted by the roar of the engine, with Sam taking off shortly after.

. . .

Simon had been running for a good little bit by now, trying to get as far away from the detective’s apartment as possible, but finally figured he was far enough to slow down to a walk, panting heavily. As he wiped away sweat from his forehead with his arm, he noticed a white car pulling up towards him.

“Oh, c’mon,” he said quietly, out of breath. “Don’t make me run anymore.”

As the white car got close to him, the driver rolled down his window. “Simon Crawford?” Too tired to verbally confirm, Simon nodded. “Well, I’ll be damned! And here, everyone was thinkin’ you were dead!”

“Nah, I’m good. I’m alright.”

“Well, that’s good t’ hear, ‘cause you’re under arrest for attemptin’ t’ rob a bank on 125th.”

At that, Simon just stopped right in his tracks, taking a moment to realize the car was an unmarked cop car, before simply turning to face him and holding his arms out, and saying, “Just put the damn cuffs on me. I’m too tired for this shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8 will be posted October 16th!


	8. Back In Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a shaky encounter with Grimmd's goons, Sam, Max and Flint finally figure out a way to track down the facility.

In the short span of time the DeSoto had been speeding down the streets of NYC, Sam had managed to speed him and Max away from the incident that occurred in the alleyway. The lagomorph hadn’t taken his eye off of Sam the whole time, and the whole time, he noticed how tense the dog seemed in every line of his body, how his breathing was heavy and rapid - but above all, how those vein-like markings on him kept receding and spreading.

Needless to say, he knew even before they’d gotten in the car that Sam was in no shape to drive.

“...Pull over,” Max said quietly once he’d felt they were far enough.

“What?” the dog asked genuinely, having not heard him.

Max spoke a little more clearly. “Pull over.”

Sam opened his mouth, as if prepared to protest, but then merely huffed a sigh, and did as he was instructed, slowing the vehicle down and stopping it along the curb of the nearest sidewalk in one semi-smooth motion, turning the key to shut off the engine as soon as he was parked. A silence fell over them, then, with the only sound being the dog’s breathing, and the occasional sound of static crackling in the air.

“You’re not okay,” the lagomorph said.

“Of course ‘m not okay,” Sam replied lowly. “How is any o’ this  _ okay? _ ”

“If it’s about what happened back there, you were doin’ it in self-defense. She tried to-”

“It’s not  _ that _ . O-Or not  _ just _ that, I- God, look at me!”

Max could hear his breathing picking up, and the veins beginning to spread faster as a result. With a gentle and calm tone, he said, “Sam, just breathe.”

“I-I can’t. I can’t, I’m gonna have a fuckin’- panic attack-”

“I know. It’s probably got somethin’ t’ do with your powers goin’ wonky, but I-”

“What the hell are ya’ talkin’ about? Powers? What the hell do ya’ mean  _ powers!? _ ”

Max blinked at that, his eyes widening a bit. Did...Sam not recall even having his abilities? He supposed it made some sense - if he couldn’t recall all the events that had led to him becoming the Poltergeist he was, then...but...that would also mean he hadn’t used his abilities in the past six months. This wasn’t just his powers going weird - this was the result of pent up energy being released all once.

“...Okay, I know this is very confusing,” Max said, “But I promise, I’m gonna help you through this-”

By this point, Sam was trembling, and unable to catch his breath. He clutched at his chest, tiny sparks continuing to fly off of his person only to fade the moment after, with his fur slowly turning into a dark shade of blue. “God, I’m a  _ freak _ ,” he muttered, staring at his shaking hands. “I’m a damn freak-”

“No, no-” he shushed the dog gently, wanting so badly to extend his hand out to him but not wanting to stress him out further. “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay-”

There was a split moment for a second where Sam’s arm seemed to physically distort, a second forearm protruding from the elbow, the fabric of his jacket sleeve stretching unnaturally with it. Max admittedly gasped at the sight of it, for it was never something he saw happen to the dog. As soon as Sam realized this was happening to him, however, his breathing picked up, and he found himself clutching at his face with his two original hands, a soft whine involuntarily leaving his throat.

Automatically assuming that Sam was in pain, Max’s expression grew even more worried. “It’s okay, Firefly - I’m here. I-I dunno how yet, but I’m gonna help ya’, I promise-”

In the middle of the lagomorph’s sentence, Sam quickly removed his hands from his face and snapped his attention to Max. “What’d you just call me?”

Max’s brows shot up upon him pointing out the nickname drop. “Uh- don’t worry about it, just try t’ focus on-”

“No, what-” He swallowed. “What’d you say?”

“I- ...I said...Firefly.” Sam merely blinked slowly at him, the sparks coming off of him slowly dissipating. Max didn’t notice that, however, he was already quickly saying, “I-I’m sorry, I know that- that probably doesn’t mean anything t’ you right-” He suddenly felt a hand on his cheek, which made him freeze for a moment, his flopped ears perking up. “-Now…” He slowly placed his own hand over the other’s, then raised his pink eyes to look at the dog.

Sam was eyeing the lagomorph, as if searching for something - mentally trying to piece the puzzle together. In his head, it felt like a thousand and one moments were suddenly flashing across his vision - when he was a kid, a teen, his college years - every blank space in his head was being filled faster than he could even register.

And every single one of those moments contained a certain white rabbity-thing, with his sharp-toothed smile and beady eyes that always held a hint of mischief, yet could hold such a great amount of compassion if one knew to look-

“...Li’l buddy?” he whispered.

Max’s eyes widened at the nickname. While it had been previously spoken as an offhand, casual thing, as if it had meant nothing, it was now being spoken like anything but. There was meaning. There was care. 

There was his Sam written all over it.

“...Yes,” the lagomorph breathed in his surprise. “Yes, yes-” He extended his hands and gently placed them onto his husband’s trembling face. “I’m here. I’m right here-”

Without warning, Sam leaned in so fast his hat flew off of his head, and planted a kiss right on Max’s lips. Max, in turn, moved his hands so they were on the back of Sam’s neck, shutting his eyes and gladly allowing the kiss to linger for a long moment. He then found himself instinctively placing a hand right on Sam’s chest, where he could feel warmth seeping in with every heartbeat. He didn’t even have to look to know that when he opened his eyes, the Poltergeist’s chest would be glowing that soft shade of blue.

Sam eventually pulled away to try to catch his already shallow breath. “This feels like so much,” he breathed, referring to the current state he was in. “It almost hurts-”

Max gently shushed him. “It’s okay, I got you. I’m gonna help ya’, Firefly - all ya’ gotta do is tell me how. Just tell me what ya’ need me t’ do.”

“I need this jacket of, right now.” Max assisted him, helping the dog slip off his jacket and tossing it into the back seat over the gun. As soon as it was off, Sam was reaching for Max again, gently pulling him forward to lean his forehead against his. “I thought I’d never remember you-”

“Shh, it's alright, now. Just focus on breathing…”

So Sam did, breathing in through his nose, then out through his mouth, all the while Max had one hand placed under his ear, running his thumb across the fur, while he had the other hand placed on the arm (or  _ arms _ , rather) that had distorted, trying to see if he could help relieve it by guiding them back together. It took several minutes, but eventually the glowing veins and the blue tinge of Sam’s fur began to recede, and his two right forearms merged to form only one again. The only signs left of his supernatural nature was the blue glow of his chest and eyes.

As soon as Sam felt like he could actually breathe, he leaned in and kissed Max again before returning to pressing his forehead against his. “It’s so good t’ see your face,” he murmured.

“Yours too,” Max said jokingly, “Could barely see your gorgeous eyes under that thing.”

Sam laughed in amusement. “You crack me up, li’l buddy.” He placed a hand on Max’s cheek again, and the lagomorph leaned into the touch, giving a low purr. Sam’s smile widened for a moment, before falling. “...I’m sorry about the things I said and did.”

Max looked surprised at the apology, then furrowed his brows. “Oh, Sam, no - don't say that. I know you didn't know... _ I’m _ the one that should be sorry. All o’ this is my fault.”

“Max, you got kidnapped. That is in no way your fault-!”

“Yes it is!” the lagomorph said with a raised voice, though upon noticing he’d startled the dog, he tried to lower it. “The only reason this happened was ‘cause I used the watch like an idiot- I don’t know why I friggin’  _ did _ that!”

“Max…”

“I could’ve helped ya’ months ago, and instead I left ya’ alone t’ be lost and confused-” Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he clutched at his own chest. “It’s  _ my  _ fault that we lost so much time-”

“Hey,” Sam said quietly, extending his arms. “Come here.”

Although Max hesitated, embarrassed to have so quickly devolved into such an upset state, he found himself throwing himself towards Sam and wrapping his arms around his neck anyway. In turn, Sam gently moved his partner so that he was seated on his lap before wrapping one arm around him, and placed the opposite hand under Max’s still floppy ears. The lagomorph couldn’t hold back his quiet sobs, nor did he bother trying to; he allowed himself to cry right into the dog’s shoulder. And Sam said nothing while he did so - he merely held onto him, lightly stroking his head.

Eventually, Max pulled back some to wipe at his cheeks. “God, I’m sorry. I feel like such a jerk right now…”

“You’re fine,” Sam reassured, allowing Max to return to resting his head on his shoulder.

“I just...guess it’s only now sinkin’ in just how messed up this all is.” The dog merely hummed in response, turning his head slightly to press the side of his muzzle against the back of Max’s head, to which Max moved one of his hands to place it on Sam’s cheek, lightly stroking it with his thumb. “...On the other hand, I guess if I’d never ended up there, I’d have never been able t’ find those people and those- kids...” His eyes widened in realization in unison, and Max pulled away to look Sam in the face. “We still gotta find that place.”

“You’re right,” Sam replied, and - understanding why his eyes had widened - added, “Let’s hope that Flint handled the other guy non-lethally.” Max started to move, but Sam merely said, “You can stay, I can still drive.”

Max gladly decided to readjust himself so he was leaning his back against his husband’s stomach and his head against his chest. “Y’know, I didn’t even know you could do that fancy gun trick,” he said, finally straightening his ears.

“Neither did I, but hey - now that I do, I see no reason t’ put it t’ use.”

Upon Sam turning the key to start the car back up again, Max looked up at him with a sharp-toothed grin. “Where we goin’, Sam?”

An amused smile appeared on Sam’s face. “To the office,” he replied, then proceeded to step on the gas.

. . .

The duo shortly arrived to the apartment building and went up the stairs only to find the sorry state that Flint’s door was in after it had been kicked in, and Flint himself sitting on his couch, with his head leaned back and facing up at the ceiling, his eyes shut, though one could tell he wasn't actually sleeping - and across from him was a different man, tied to the chair and also unconscious.

Sam and Max looked at each other briefly before Sam decided to tap his knuckles against the slightly busted doorframe. This prompted Flint’s attention to snap in their direction, half alarmed, but upon seeing the pair, he got up and approached them.

“See ya’ took care o’ him,” Sam said, nodding towards the new unconscious man. He figured since the guy was in the chair, it was safe to assume he was still alive.

“Piece o’ cake,” Flint said with a smirk.

“Hope he hadn't given ya’ too much of a start. We tried t’ warn ya’ he was comin’.”

“Tried t’ give ya’ a call,” Max threw in, “But apparently you were too busy sleepin’!”

Flint merely shrugged. “Guilty as charged.”

“And then we tried t’ come to ya’ t’ help,” Sam continued explaining, “But some lady broke into our house, shot me, then took off with Max-”

“Wait, hold on- this is the smallest detail, I know, but- did you just say…’ _ our _ house?’”

“This handsome stud’s just told ya’ his pretty self got shot, and you're worried about his wording,” Max joked, propping his hands on his hips and shaking his head in feigned disappointment.

After flashing an amused smile towards his partner, Sam looked back to the man and said, “Yup - that’s what I said. And I’m back t’ sayin’ with confidence that I absolutely adore my husband, and would love to kiss him right on the mouth.”

“Then pucker up, babe!” With a grin, the lagomorph jumped right into Sam’s arms. “Nothing’s stoppin’ ya’!”

“This is certainly one unsubtle way t’ announce you've recovered your memory,” Flint said, shaking his head in his own amusement. “Happy for ya’, though! And hey, I don’t mean t’ say I told ya’ so, but-”

“You told me so,” Sam finished with a nod. “Just needed a minute or two. Or, a thousand-four hundred-forty in this case.” He pressed a light smooch on Max’s cheek, which earned a giggle from the lagomorph.

“As I said, I’m glad. Now, uh - about you gettin’ shot?” the detective inquired, only now noticing the torn fabric where Sam had been shot.

Right. She tried t’ take me out, but only managed t’ slow me down long enough t’ grab Max, so I had t’ chase her in the DeSoto.”

“And then Sam got her t’ corner herself by rammin’ into her and blockin’ off her path!” Max chimed in. “And then she was gonna shoot ‘im again, so he was gonna shoot  _ her _ , but then his powers were kinda goin’ haywire, so he kinda made a fried donut outta her.”

“But I thought all donuts were-” Flint started saying, caught on, then said, “Oh.” Then he  _ really _ caught on, made a disgusted face, then said, “ _ Oh. _ ”

“It was an accident,” Sam replied, “I had little control in the matter.”

“Try sayin’ that in court,” the man muttered, half-joking. He then sighed through his nose and said, “Least we still got this guy.” He pointed at the unconscious man over his shoulder with his thumb.

“Yeah, about that, though - what happened to your other guy? I don’t see ‘im in there.”

“Oh, uh- yeah. ‘Bout that-” He scratched the back of his neck. “While I was takin’ out that guy there - y’know, tryin’ t’ make sure he didn’t kill the other guy I already had - the other guy, Simon Crawford, he kinda, uh...wormed his way out, apparently.”

Both the dog and the lagomorph’s ears perked, but while Sam was only a little surprised, Max looked shocked, and said, “ _ What? _ ”

“Yeah, it, uh- that really sucks, and I...probably should’ve led with that.”

“Yeah, no kiddin’!” Max hopped out of his partner’s arms and in front of the man. “‘Cause that’s not good! Like, at all!”

“I’m sorry,” Sam said, shaking his head, “I’m laggin’ behind a bit - why is this particularly bad?”

Flint opened his mouth to answer, but Max turned to Sam and answered first. “If he gets caught by the cops and he starts sharin’ a li’l too much information - which he  _ will _ \- then who knows what the fate of those people there’ll be, but I sure as hell know what the fate of those  _ kids _ will be!”

“Okay, yeah. That’s bad. And especially with one of those kids bein’ Psychic-”

“Oh my God,” Max murmured, having not even thought about the poor kid that had abilities in the equations of awful. The others’ fates were bound to go poorly, but that kid - their fate may remain the exact same if not worse if they fell into the wrong hands again. As soon as that thought struck him, Max hopped up to grab Sam by his t-shirt’s collar. “We have t’ find out where that facility is,  _ stat! _ ”

“You’re absolutely right, li’l buddy,” Sam said, then turned his head to Flint. “Did he give any indication as t’ where it was?”

“He claimed that he didn’t know where it was durin’ the daylight,” the man replied, “‘Course, even someone with crap vision could still probably see enough t’ give at least a few landmarks, but he refused t’ mention anything t’ me.”

“Bet he’ll spill t’ those  _ pigs _ without a problem,” Max muttered with a low growl.

Sam decided to pry his little hands off of his shirt collar and resume holding his husband. “Then I guess we’ll have t’ wake up that guy.” He nodded towards the tied up man. “Just give us a bucket and thirty or so seconds with the shower, and we’ll have ‘im more awake than an elephant downin’ coffee mixed with 5-hour Energy to wash down some Prozac.”

Flint thought for a moment. “...I don’t have a bucket.”

“Alright then, no bucket.”

A few moments later, they had the unconscious man sitting in against the wall of Flint’s shower, and turning the freezing cold water on blast. Immediately, Pete sputtered and gasped, sitting up straight and alert, and as soon as he did, the water was shut off. He continued to gasp for a moment, a shiver already going down his spine, before his eyes quickly snapped to Flint and Sam, who were kneeling beside the tub at his current eye level, and Max, who was standing beside them with a wide grin, with the still dripping shower head in his hand, pointed directly at the guy.

“Good evenin’,” was all Sam greeted with.

Pete blinked at them, then looked down at himself, before giving a half-lidded, unamused stare at nothing. “Ah, great,” he muttered. He looked directly at Sam and Max, and asked, “How the hell did  _ you two _ even manage t’ get here?”

“Drove here,” the dog responded in his smartass way.

“Oho, think you're funny, huh? Well, you ain't gonna be laughin’ for long, I promise ya’ that.”

“Yeah, if you're referrin’ to that partner in crime of yours, then it's gonna suck for you t’ hear that she ain't comin’.”

Pete’s smug smile fell. “...What happened to ‘er?”

“The same thing that happens eventually happens t’ just about anyone who keeps tryin’ t’ stand in our way!” Max said, almost a little too gladly, what with the implications of the statement.

The man stared, wide-eyed, and swallowed nervously, but otherwise said nothing.

“Here's the deal, Pete,” Flint said, then, upon noticing the other’s expression, added, “Yes, I know your name. Simon mentioned you. What he didn't mention, however, was where the facility was or how t’ get to it. My furry pals here, though - I’m sure you remember them from a few months back - they’re sayin’ that if anyone’s gonna know how t’ find it, it's you.”

Pete couldn't help but scoff derisively, looking at the lagomorph. “You wanna go  _ back?” _

_ “ _ I have my reasons,” was all Max said.

“Well, damn, if that's the case, you were better off makin’ my life easier and just hoppin’ right into the van yourself.”

Without warning, Sam decided to turn the faucet, causing the shower head in Max’s hand to spray cold water directly at his face, taking the man off-guard and making him splutter again until Sam turned the faucet off. “I popped here just the other night, and in less than a day, ya’ found me again,” Max said. “How?”

“You're not hard t’ find, bright eyes,” Pete shot back.

“Then how about Simon?” Flint questioned. “You seemed t’ find  _ him _ pretty fast, and there was no possible indication as to where he was. And your friend found mine’s house pretty damn fast, too. How?”

“Lucky guess,” he muttered sarcastically. This earned him yet another spray in the way, this time causing him to cough once it passed.

“Just answer the question,” Sam said.

Pete merely started laughing, which wavered slightly only because he was incredibly cold and trembling. “It's not like it was hard t’ track ya’ - you're, like, the most oblivious people on  _ Earth _ . Friggin’ wastin’ your gas tryin’ t’ find us.” He shook his head, and continued, “I mean, seriously, did ya’ think the doctor wouldn’t have a way t’ track his most prized subject? Idiots.”

“Tracking, huh?” As soon as Sam said that, Pete’s smile fell once again, his eyes soon widening in the realization of his own slip-up.

“Wait - the collar!” Flint said, which resulted in both the dog and lagomorph’s ears to perk up and their eyes to draw to the collar - particularly the red light in the center of it. “Dammit! Should’ve picked up on it sooner.”

“Whoa, whoa, hang  _ on _ , fellas,” Pete said with a slightly nervous laugh. “There’s no way t’ know that  _ that’s _ it! I mean, not even  _ I _ know how t’ take it off!”

“Ugh, he’s right, guys,” Max said. “Even Mama Bosco said she doesn’t know how t’ take it off!”

Sam merely put a finger on his chin in thought before raising a brow. He then proceeded to point a finger directly at the collar and sent a tiny spark directly into it. The light on the collar immediately fizzled out, and there was a  _ click _ as it suddenly came loose, with Sam catching it into his palm with ease.

“ _ Electrocution! _ ” the lagomorph muttered with a snap of his fingers, bringing his hand up to rub his slightly sore neck. “Why didn’t  _ I _ think of that?”

“You crack me up, li’l buddy,” he said as he flipped the collar over so that he could look at the interior of it, with Flint looking over his shoulder. Surely enough, there was a tiny chip and microphone built right in there. He then looked at Flint over his shoulder. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“Mama Bosco?” Flint replied.

“Mama Bosco. C’mon, let’s go while we still got time.” He began to stand up, with the man following suit, and, with Max abandoning the shower head, the three began to make their leave.

“Whoa, wait!” Pete protested, making them stop to look back at him. “The hell are ya’ gonna do with  _ me? _ ”

“Buddy, you better hope we don’t think o’ somethin’.”

“But we will!” Max chimed in.

Sam nodded in agreement. “We will.” With that, the three resumed their exit.

Pete merely huffed, slumping in his partly annoyed defeat. His eyes ended up falling right onto the faucet which Sam had turned to turn on the cold water. At first he merely stared, then blinked, an idea occurring to him.

“You go t’ the car,” the dog told Flint, “We’ll call Mama B and let her know we’re about t’ stop by at five in the mornin’.”

“Sounds like a plan, Sam,” Flint replied, then turned to take off down the stairs.

As the remaining two turned to their own office, Sam shoved the collar into his pant pocket, then briefly glanced at the window. “Sorry about that, by the way,” he said, nodding to it when Max looked at him in confusion. “I’ll change that back as soon as possible.”

“Actually,” Max said, putting a hand on his chin, raising a brow as he looked it over. “It’s got a nice ring to it, Would do better t’ clear the common misunderstanding that we’re actual cops and not people who hate ‘em and do everything they can t’ make their lives a living hell.”

“Then remind me t’ paint a black ‘S’ on the end of ‘detective’ ‘til I can get on significantly less bland.”

“Aww, Sam! You’re too sweet!”

“Just as I should be,” he replied, opening up the door. As he went to the phone, he asked Max, “Ya’ mind grabbin’ my hat and coat from the closet?”

“Ain’t your hat and coat in the DeSoto still?”

“Ya’ mean that sorry excuse of a Philip Marlowe cosplay? Hell no! I’m never puttin’ that dingy garb on ever again.”

Max hummed as he approached the closet. “That’s a shame, ‘cause I personally think you look pretty damn attractive in black.”

His brows shot up, a light glow of blue flushing his cheeks before he looked over at his husband. “Well, perhaps I could make the occasional exception. After all, forever  _ is _ a long time.”

Max merely gave a slightly mischievous smile before opening up the closet - and his smile fell immediately after doing so. Along with Sam’s usual jacket and hat, there was everything - literally  _ everything _ \- from the office that had to do with Max. Photos, his various drawings, the old ‘Freelance Police’ window, and, hell, even his desk was in there, his carvings still well embedded in it. He found himself picking up a photo of him and Sam on some particular Christmas day before noticing a blanket tucked securely away in the back corner of the small space. This prompted him to carefully set aside the photo and go to pull it out, only to remove the blanket and discover that it was his box of vintage posters.

After Sam hung up the phone after speaking with an exhausted, mildly annoyed yet still willing to help Mama Bosco, he turned to look over at Max and immediately noticed what he was looking at. “I, uh,” he started saying as he started walking closer to him, making the other look over at him. “I might not have remembered how important a lot of that stuff was, but I still knew it was important enough t’ keep safe. Last thing I wanted was t’ accidentally damage somethin’, then regret it later.”

“So it wasn’t... _ entirely _ because you didn’t wanna look at ‘em.”

“Not entirely, but I won’t pretend like that wasn’t a decent majority of the reason, either.”

Max merely gave him a small smile, then closed the box and pushed it back into the closet. He then hopped onto his desk to grab the hat on the top self, turned around and put it right onto the dog’s head before turning back to grab his jacket. “Ugh,” he said quietly, crinkling his nose, then said normally as he handed the jacket to Sam, “You should probably wash this as soon as ya’ can, it smells nasty.”

Upon taking it, Sam gave it a quick sniff then gave a mildly disgusted look as well. “Yeah, you’re right,” he murmured, but slipped it on anyway. He then dug into the pocket, his expression looking thoughtful for a moment as he did before he perked right up, a bright smile on his face, as he pulled out his wedding ring.

Before he could slip it on himself, Max said, “Oh! Oh, let me put it on!” Without a word, Sam handed it to him, and Max took it, and, with his free hand, held onto Sam’s hand, before gently sliding it onto his ring finger. “Sorry I don’t have mine right now. Those bastards took it from me.”

“We’ll find it. And those people, and those kids. And once they’re all safe, we’re gonna completely ransack the place.”

“God, I love you. After all o’ this, we should get married again.”

“Y’know what? I’d like that.” He then readjusted his jacket by the lapels and said, “Well, li’l buddy, we better not keep Flint waitin’.”

“Mmm, not even for five minutes?” the lagomorph teased, placing his hands on his husband’s shoulders.

Sam merely gave an amused smile then kissed him on the nose. “You crack me up, li’l buddy,” he said, then proceeded to lift Max off of the desk and make his leave, allowing the closet door to stay open behind him.

. . .

“Oh, good, you’re all in your pyjamas, too,” Mama Bosco - who was wearing blue and yellow space-themed pyjamas that she’d simply thrown her lab coat over - said upon seeing the three enter. “Makes me feel a li’l less foolish.”

“Thanks again for doin’ this for us,” Sam said, “I know it’s late.”

“As a scientist, this isn’t late, hon - this is early. Now c’mon-” She waved her fingers. “Hand it over.” Sam dug into his pocket and handed over the metal collar to her at once. “Boy, this is heavy! Surprised you even got it off in one piece!”

“Turns out if you’d have strapped me t’ the chair and pulled a lever and sent a thousand volts int’ me, it’d have come off easy peasy!”

The scientist raised a brow at him, then looked at Sam.

“I basically shocked it with static electricity,” Sam explained.

“Gotcha,” she murmured, then proceeded to turn the collar to observe the interior, her eyes being drawn to the chip. “Ah, so  _ that’s _ what you meant by it was trackable.”

“They were usin’ it t’ keep tabs of Max,” Flint said, shaking his head. “I really should’ve realized sooner.”

“I don’t think any of us were expectin’ for them t’ have the technology,” Sam replied, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “‘Sides, even if we did notice, that doesn’t guarantee things would’ve gone much differently.” Flint shrugged slightly, seeing the dog’s point. Sam then looked over to Mama Bosco, who already had a screwdriver in hand and poking at it. “Can ya’ find where it’s bein’ tracked from?”

“You kidding?” she said, as if that was the most ridiculous question she ever heard. “This is small potatoes! Hell, you could’ve probably even done that part without me if you really wanted.”

“I may be a bit of a tech nerd, but as far as trackin’ crap like that goes, I’m helpless.”

“You should see ‘im with a GPS!” Max said jokingly.

“Okay, just ‘cause I drove us straight into a ditch that  _ one _ time-”

“Point is, tracking it back to its source won’t take long at all,” Mama Bosco interjected, managing to pop the chip off with the screwdriver, then scooping it up into her free hand. “It’s not even that fancy for a tracker. You could probably crack open any ol’ GPS and find this in there.”

“Jeez, Max,” Sam said, looking over at his partner while Mama Bosco brought the chip over to her computer. “You’re startin’ t’ sound like an awfully expensive investment for this weirdo doctor guy.”

“Sam, I’m an awfully expensive investment for  _ everyone _ I meet,” Max replied, “‘Cause I’m a luxury that few can afford!”

“You sure are, li’l buddy.”

“Here,” Mama Bosco said, catching the others’ attention and prompting them to go over to her computer. On the screen, it showed a highlighted path from where they currently were, all the way to a decent distance on the outskirts of the city. “God, the guy didn’t even do anything to try and cover it up…”

“Well, t’ be fair,” Sam said, “He was probably countin’ on nobody bein’ able to bust open the collar.”

“It  _ is _ made of sturdy material, yeah.”

The dog looked over the map on the screen again. Murmuring, “All the way out there…”

“Good thing I teleported,” Max said. “Even if I’d gotten out, I wouldn’t have been able t’ run  _ that _ far.”

“So, we know where it is,” Flint said. “...What’s the plan?”

Sam merely looked over at Max, who had a hand on his chin, his brows furrowed in thought. “...I dunno how many people were in there, but there weren’t many and most of ‘em weren’t even  _ my _ size,” the lagomorph said. “They were all lined up on shelves like friggin’- ...We need t’ have rides ready t’ drive ‘em back outta there. But it can’t be Sam and I.” He looked up at Sam, and said, “I wanna get those kids out personally.” 

Sam nodded in agreement, then said, “That van may not be in  _ complete _ tip-top shape, but if it’s still there, we should be able t’ use that.”

“I’ll drive it,” Flint offered. “And if ya’ need me t’ wait outside while you two go in, I can do that, too.”

“That might be the safest bet, yeah. Actually, I should bring Carol with me t’ keep track of the police situation.”

“You think they’ll respond that quickly?”

“I think that the universe tends to be rude and likes t’ make the unlikely a certainty when it’s the least convenient.”

“That means yes!” Max chimed in.

“Well then,” the man said with a smile. “It’s a good thing you two could outrun ‘em any day.”

“I could help keep track of things here,” Mama Bosco said. “Try to make sure there’s no surprises. Or get lost.”

“‘Preciate it, doc,” the dog replied, then turned to the other two and said, “We grab what we need and we meet up on the edge of the city within the next twenty minutes. Sound good?”

“Sounds great, Sam-o.”

“Yeah,” Max said with a wide grin and a nod. “Let’s do it!”

. . .

“Come  _ on _ ,” Pete murmured between clenched teeth for the umpteeth time, growing increasingly frustrated. As soon as the man had been sure that his captors had left, he had started putting himself through the particularly awkward endeavor of trying to force the cold faucet handle inbetween the knot of the rope that confined his wrists.

Obviously, those damn detectives hadn’t tied it tight enough to cut off his circulation, which meant that it was loose enough for him to have the chance to free himself, However, that didn’t make it any less difficult to actually  _ succeed _ in freeing himself, what with the fact that he was facing backwards, crouched slightly and also trying hard not to break the friggin’ faucet.

He had the damn thing wedged in there, but the problem was he wasn’t succeeding much in actually being able to use it to loosen the knot. Eventually, though, with a grunt, he found himself yanking it upwards in his annoyance. He felt the rope finally loosen a bit with that tug, but he also heard the water beginning to run, and though he tried to be careful with his footing as he tried to free the rope from the faucet, he still ended up slipping with a surprised yell and landing on his back painfully for the second time that night.

He clenched his jaw against the pain before letting out a deep breath through his breath. He then shifted his hands underneath him, the water sloshing as he did so, widened his eyes, then quickly sat up, muttering, “Yes, yes, yes-” as he managed to loosen his hands, then freed himself from the rest of the rope. With the water still running behind him and himself still soaked to the bone, he was quick to get out of the bathroom, pick up his pistol off the floor and go on his way to get out of the building entirely.

It went without saying that this entire situation was really screwed up, and he had absolutely no plans in sticking around to wait for those guys to bring the axe down on him, nor was he planning on heading back to the facility knowing damn well what fate would await him there if he did. No, if anything, hearing that Kendra was gone was the best news he could have within this whole shit show, because that meant he could get  _ out _ of there with no one that could actually track him down.

With the sky only beginning to grow lighter, Pete exited the building, and looked up and down the road before noticing a cab approaching. He immediately waved a hand and yelled, “Taxi!” A mere few moments later, the taxi was pulling up, and Pete got on the driver’s side, opened the door and held the driver at gunpoint. The driver got out with little resistance, and Pete got in, shut the door, started the engine and started speeding off down the road. He had no particular destination in mind - he just knew that he had to get out of there and go where no one could find him.

Was it not even three whole minutes before he turned the vehicle around a corner and found himself ramming right into the front of another car at nearly full speed, causing him to jerk forward in his seat. He was disoriented for a moment, but eventually shook his head and stared wide-eyed through the windshield.

Surely enough, the car he had ran into ended up being a cop car.

  
His hands slid off the wheel into his lap in exasperation. “Are you friggin’  _ kidding _ me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 comes out on the 23rd!


	9. Golden Retrieval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max infiltrate the facility.

“ _...5’8” male, Peter Roswell, _ ” came the man’s voice through the police scanner, “ _ Apprehended near Straight & Narrow- _ ”

Sam and Max’s ears both perked up at that. “Damn,” the dog murmured. “Guess he tried t’ get away, too.” He looked over at his partner in the passenger’s side. “Is that gonna be a problem, ya’ think?”

“Well, the police already got  _ one _ guy that can snitch to ‘em. I don’t think it makes much difference if they got two.”

“I meant for you personally.”

“Oh! Nah, not at all,” he said with a shake of his head, lightly patting his hand against the blanket he’d decided to bring with him specifically for the kids. “I’m willing t’ forgive his transgressions since he was dumb enough t’ tell us ‘bout the tracker. ‘Sides, if we  _ really _ wanted him dead, he’d be dead by now.”

“Probably right on that,” he replied, returning his eyes to the road and drumming his fingers quietly against the steering wheel as they drove down the long highway.

Max didn’t fail to notice the tinge of blue beginning to grow in the dog’s eyes however, and how his jaw was clenched. “...I can’t tell if you’re stressed or nervous.”

The dog’s gaze flickered towards him briefly. “Is there much of a difference?”

“Fair point,” Max murmured. “Do ya’ feel like...this isn’t gonna go  _ well _ , or-?”

“It’s not necessarily  _ that _ , I just- I dunno...we’re headed right for the place you were stuck in for six months. I’m not exactly lookin’ forward t’ seein’ it, and bein’ confronted with the thought that you were in there for the longest time.”

The lagomorph blink, then lowered his gaze. He supposed he could understand where the anxiety was coming from. “...If it’s any consolation...I didn’t have to actually  _ endure _ those six months.” Sam looked over at him with a raised brow. “I just sort of...jumped from one time t’ the next, and that was that. There wasn’t much of an inbetween for me as there was for you.”

Sam stared at him for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the road. “I suppose that does make me feel a li’l better.”

Max reached over and placed a hand on his husband’s leg, which, in turn, the dog removed one hand from the wheel to put his own hand over top of his. “We’re gonna go in there,” Max said, “We’re gonna get everyone outta there, and then we’re gonna beat the ever loving shit out of everyone who was involved in Grimmd’s sick schemes and anyone who stood by and watched it happen.”

“So, everyone.”

He gave a sharp-toothed grin. “You know it, baby!”

Sam gave a small laugh. “You crack me up, li’l buddy.” He gave his hand a small squeeze before returning it to the wheel, and the two of them stared ahead as the sun began to creep over the horizon.

It was only about another twenty or minutes or so when, through Carol, there was another man’s voice stating, “ _ Dispatching to the outer New York City area- _ ”

“Whoop,” Sam murmured, making sure not to accidentally waken the lagomorph who’d dozed off a few minutes ago. “There it is.” He reached for the walkie talkie and held down the button. “Police are bein’ dispatched as we speak.”

“ _ Roughly thirty minute headstart, give or take, _ ” Flint - who had been following closely behind the, in the van the whole time - replied. “ _ Not too shabby. _ ”

“Let’s just hope that it’s enough.” With that, Sam returned the device to its spot on the dash next to the scanner, and continued the long drive.

The entirety of the drive was about an hour and a half long total, and mostly consisted of a long highway followed by an off-road ride through the middle of seemingly nowhere. Without the shade of night to keep themselves hidden, Mama Bosco had to specifically lead them along the path that would put them in a safe zone where they’d be less likely to be seen or detected, which was located just behind the facility.

Eventually, the walkie talkie crackled, and the scientist’s voice came through to say, “ _ There’s the spot - on your left. _ ”

Sam picked it up again just to say, “Roger that,” then said as he put it back down and started turning the DeSoto, “Wakey, wakey, li’l buddy - we’re here.”

“If these were normal circumstances,” Max grumbled, “I'd have mauled you.”

“Love ya’ too,” he replied, to which the lagomorph responded by puckering his lips in a kissing motion and making the noise to go with it. The both of them smiled in amusement, and Max stretched while Sam parked the vehicle in the spot. Once he was stopped, he grabbed the device and shoved it into his pocket and got out, with his partner following suit.

While Flint pulled up behind them, they both took some steps forward. They were located on a hill (though parked in a way that made either them hard to spot) and surely enough, right down it, there was the facility building.

“Wow,” Max said, “It looks even better in the daylight!”

Sam gave him a surprised look. “Really?”

“Absolutely not. I am one-hundred percent kidding.”

“Oh.” He looked back at the building below, placing his hands on his hips right as Flint walked up beside them.

“So,” Flint said, “This is the place, huh?”

“Actually, Flint,” Max replied, “The place is  _ underneath _ this cheap Home Depot shed display. That there's just a cover-up for the health inspector nightmare that lurks below.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“Well, Max,” Sam said, “Since your teleportation only connects t’ phones, I’m guessin’ we’re gonna have t’ put legit effort into gettin’ in, huh?”

“Guess so,” the lagomorph replied with a shrug. “Kinda bullcrap that I can't just go in based off location, but whatever.”

“Least I can phase myself in there.”

“That  _ is _ a plus.”

“Alright, fellas,” Flint said, making them both look at him. “We got anywhere from twenty t’ thirty minutes ‘til the cops get here - maybe more if we’re extremely lucky. Get in, find those people, get out. I’ll be waitin’ out here the whole time.”

“Whatever happens in there,” Max said, “We ain’t leavin’ until everyone is safe.”

The dog nodded in agreement, then said, “We best not waste anymore time. C’mon, li’l buddy - post haste.”

“Don't say poste haste, Sam.”

So Sam and Max made their way quickly down the hill and approached the stone wall that surrounded the area of the abandoned building. Without any hesitation, Sam took the lagomorph and tossed him right over, said lagomorph going ‘wheee!’ as he flew right over it, managing to stick his landing without stumbling. Sam promptly followed after him by phasing right through the wall, the sound of cracking audible when he did so.

Upon exiting on the other side, he shuddered slightly, readjusting his tie as he said, “The one thing I failed t’ remember - just how friggin’  _ weird _ that feels sometimes.”

“I personally find the likeness of celery bein’ snapped in half comforting,” Max teased. “Good ASMR.”

“Oh, shut it, bonehead.” He patted himself down briefly, fixing his hat. “Now how do we get in here if the place is underground?”

“So happy you asked, Sammothy! Just follow me.” With that, he started walking, and Sam followed closely behind him. It took Max a moment to find, since he was going solely based off of what he was able to identify despite it being dark and hectic at the time of his escape, but it wasn’t all that hard to spot the trap door considering it was the only dark, metal thing in the midst of a bunch of dead grass. “Ah, there it is!” Max said, immediately going over and leaning down with the intent to open it-

“Wait,” Sam said, making the lagomorph stop in his action to look at him. “I should take a look in, first.”

Max graciously stepped to the side, and gestured to the trap door with his hands. “Be my guest.”

The dog proceeded to get to his knees and phase his head right through the trap door. He glanced around the dimly lit hallway but also paused to listen for any possible sounds. When he heard nothing - not even any potential prisoners within these dreary walls - he even tried to get a whiff to see if he could pick anything up, but the only thing he could gather was the scent of rust and dirt. “It’s practically dead in here,” he said with his head still through the trap door.

Max, who’d only picked up muffling despite having his ear straightened to try and hear his partner better, said with confusion clear in his tone, “‘They’re practicing bread down there?’ What does that even mean?”

“‘They’re panelling pleb clowns here, because of that uneven meat?’”

“What?”

“Wh-” Sam started questioning, before shaking his head. “No time for playin’ telephone, Max!” he murmured under his breath. He then allowed himself to phase through the trap door completely, managing to catch onto one of the rungs before he completely fell down. With his free hand, he shoved the trap door open, revealing the lagomorph standing right over him. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself,” Max responded. Sam then started climbing down the ladder, and the lagomorph followed just behind him. “I’m serious about the ASMR thing,” he said, making sure not to speak too loudly lest they get caught, “It’s all the rage these days. You should-”

“Max, li’l buddy, babe - I love ya’, but I’m gonna have t’ kindly ask ya’ t’ shut yer yap.” As soon as both of his paws were touching the floor, he reached for his husband and decided to remove him from the ladder himself, placing him down beside him before the both of ‘em looked around.

“Jeez,” Max muttered, “It’s practically dead in here.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” He took a deep breath through his nose, trying to relax his nerves. “...So - where do we start?”

“Well, I know where those people or kids are, but I didn’t exactly keep track o’ how t’ get to ‘em from here, so...guess we look around, try not t’ get caught-”

“Fry ‘em if we gotta?” Sam half-joked under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Remind me t’ make out with ya’ after this.”

The dog flashed him a brief smile, though it soon faded as he removed his hands from his pockets. “Lead the way - I got your back.”

With that, the two began searching around the dim, grimy hallway, which continued to remain almost uncomfortably silent, with only their breath and footsteps being the audible things. At least the silence would make hearing anyone coming by easy to detect.

It was only a few minutes of walking before they passed by a door which made Max’s ears straighten right up and stop in his tracks despite Sam continuing to walk. “Sam, wait!” he whispered.

Sam stopped and turned to look at him. “What is it?”

He pointed right at the door, and said, “I think this is where those files are!”

“What f-” he started questioning, but soon perked his ears up in realization. “Oh!”

Max tested the doorknob. “It’s locked.” Soon after he said that, Sam gestured to him to step aside, and then phased through the door, then opened it from the inside. He stood aside to let Max walk in, then shut it behind him to maintain discretion, should anyone happen to walk by it.

The interior of the office was more brightly lit than the halls, which actually caused both the dog and lagomorph to blink just to allow their eyes to adjust to it. The walls were cleaner and brighter than the halls as well, but they were still grey and incredibly bland. There was a desk, a black office chair, and some filing cabinets which lined the entire back wall.

“I know the filing cabinets are the most obvious thing here,” Sam commented, circling around the desk so that he was on the opposite side of it. “But I feel like we ought t’ look in the desk drawers first, just in case.”

“Fair enough,” Max replied, pulling the chair out of the way so that he could stand next to his partner.

The two of them stared at the only desk drawer, which was located right above the seat of the chair. They exchanged a brief glance before Max nodded, prompting Sam to turn his attention back to the drawer, and grabbed the knob of it, pulling it open. There was what looked to be a bunch of small items that were likely confiscated from people - one of them being Max’s wedding ring.

“Oh!” the lagomorph exclaimed in joy, “There it is-!”

“Hey now,” Sam said, grabbing the ring right as Max was reaching for it. Max appeared confused until Sam knelt down to one knee and took his partner’s hand into his own, lifting it up, and sliding the ring onto the lagomorph’s ring finger.

“Not even gonna ask me t’ marry ya’?” Max asked jokingly.

Sam responded by kissing his ring and then his forehead. “After, I promise.” He looked at the drawer. “We should take this stuff with us - it probably belongs t’ the people we’re tryin’ t’ save.”

“Good idea. You do that, I’ll look through these filin’ cabinets.”

While the dog proceeded to carefully gather up the small trinkets and loose items, and place them with care into the inside of his jacket, Max was digging - literally digging - through the files in the cabinet, tossing out one after the other behind him onto the floor. Once Sam had all the items gathered, he turned to see his partner’s rear end sticking out of the middle drawer of one of the filing cabinets. “Any luck, li’l buddy?”

Max disappeared from the middle drawer completely only for the drawer above it to open right up, with him poking his head out of it with several paper folders in his hands. “This guy craps files for breakfast, Sam - I dunno how he has so many!”

Sam hummed, putting a hand on his chin in thought, his eyes immediately going over to the labels on the drawers, which merely read a letter, then ‘0-99’. The one that Max was currently in read ‘M 0-99’ specifically. He reached in and took one and opened it up. The animal in the file appeared to be a mouse. He set it on top of the cabinet, then decided to randomly open one that read ‘S 0-99’, and pulled out a file that appeared to be about a squirrel.

The lagomorph’s nose twitched a bit at seeing the wheels in his husband’s head turn. “Noticin’ somethin’, Firefly?”

“I believe so…” he murmured. He placed that file on top of the cabinet as well, and turned his head to look at the other drawers. “Do we know what these kids... _ are _ , exactly?”

Max paused to think for a moment. “...They were whimpering, so I’d assume they’d be some sorta canine.” He then appeared puzzled, and added, “But I didn’t find any dog files...maybe they’re somethin’ else?”

“Or maybe…” His eyes ended up trailing to the lowest drawer on that cabinet, which was labelled with ‘P’.

The lagomorph followed his gaze and perked his ears right up. He then hopped out of the drawer he was in and crouched next to the drawer Sam was looking at and opened it up. He then pulled out a file from it and flipped it open. “...This is it.” He then proceeded to hand it to Sam, who decided to place it open on the desk, while continuing to look through the files in the drawer. Eventually, they had five files laying face open.

The files each contained an image of a fluffy, red-furred pup, each of them lying down and staring towards the camera in the photo, but no two looking completely identical. They had no names, unlike the other files they had been looking at - they were simply labelled as P0 to P4 - with P0 being the oldest one on the litter. Born in 2016. Tibetan Mastiffs…

“...This is the kid,” Max murmured, tapping his finger against the image of a male pup with fur covering his eyes. “This is the kid with the powers…”

“We really ought t’ get Papierwaite and Yog t’ look at this,” Sam said quietly. “...But first, we ought t’ get all o’ these files and get ‘em outta here.” Him and Max exchanged a glance. “They’re evidence - and hell knows we shouldn’t keep ‘em here for the five-o t’ find.”

“Can ya’ even grab all o’ these?”

“Max, I’ve been disobeying the laws of physics by shovelling seemingly unrelated crap into my pockets regardless of their size for the past twenty-five years. ‘Course I can.”

With that, Sam and Max took the time to scoop up every folder on the desk, floor and in the cabinet and had them placed into the bottomless pit that was the inside of the dog’s jacket, making sure to put the pups’ into the separate side so that he wouldn’t lose track of them, before the two of them moved on back out into the still empty hall. They continued to walk past empty rooms that seemed to only vaguely resemble operating rooms with tables and trays of medical equipment and machines meant to monitor vitals. Both the dog and lagomorph averted their gazes from those rooms.

Eventually, however, Max’s ears perked again, and he said in a hushed tone, “Wait- there it is, that’s the room I found!” He didn’t even hesitate to rush towards the door.

“Wait, Max-!” Sam said in an attempt to caution him, but his partner was already opening the door, so he followed in closely after him-

“Don’t shut the door,” Max told him when he was prepared to, “It locks on the inside. Spare yourself the trouble.”

As soon as the lagomorph had entered, the red squirrel, who had been lying on the uncomfortable, cold floor of his, lifted their head right up, their eyes wide and their mouth agape. Soon, though, his shocked expression turned into an overjoyous smile as they hopped to their feet. “Max!” they exclaimed, which in turn made the other smaller animals suddenly perk up as well. Max promptly put an index finger over his lips, silently indiciating them to keep quiet. “You came back!” Fen said, more quietly.

“‘Course I did!” Max replied with a smile, approaching the squirrel’s cage. “I told ya’ I would.”

“And ya’ brought back up,” the mouse next to Fen’s cage (whose name had been Morry, according to the file Sam had read). “Guess I was wrong for doubtin’ ya’.”

“You sure were - but no time for ‘I told you sos’. I need you two t’ listen, and I need you t’ spread the word however ya’ can - Sam and I are gonna get ya’ outta here. There’s an exit just a few hallways down - take a couple o’ rights and a left, and you’ll find a ladder with an opened trap door. There’s a stone wall, but you guys might have less of a problem with it than I did. On the other side of it, there’s a guy named Flint Paper - dark hair, five-o’-clock shadow, handsome as hell. Okay, he’s got a van ready t’ drive the lot o’ ya’ right out and all the way back t’ New York City. I dunno if that’s where  _ all _ of ya’ are from, but least once ya’ get there, you’ll be free.” He looked between the squirrel and mouse, and said, “Got all o’ that?”

The other prisoners were already stirring with excitement, having heard the lagomorph’s words. “Yes,” Fen confirmed. “We’ll tell everyone here. Better yet, we’ll lead ‘em out ourselves.”

“Is it safe, though?” the mouse asked, a slight furrow in his brow. “Will we be caught?”

“Look, I know it’s risky, and risky’s scary,” Max said to him. “But this is the only chance I can give ya’, so you’re gonna have t’ take it. But here’s the thing - they couldn’t catch me, so I doubt they’ll catch you. And if they try to, just holler. I’ve got your back.”

The red squirrel was smiling so wide their cheeks hurt, and tears of relief and joy at the prospect of being free welled up in their eyes. “Thank you,” they said. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

“Of course!” He then turned to his partner, and with a sharp-toothed grin, said, “Firefly, honey, these locks are all electronic. Mind doin’ the honours?”

The dog gave a nod, and stepped forward until he was directly in the middle of the room, and cracked his knuckles, light illuminating from underneath his skin and quickly spreading to form a blue aura around him. “Might wanna back away from the bars,” he told the occupants, “It’s been a while since I used these - wouldn’t wanna zap anyone by accident.” He then wiggled his fingers for a moment before shutting his eyes, spreading his hands. The locks on the cages began to audibly fizzle with sparks flying off of them. This lasted for a few seconds before the lights on the locks all bursted forward, the small bits of plastic and glass clinking quietly onto the floor.

There was silence. Everyone exchanged glances, seeming hesitant, as if fearful that being the first person to exit would result in this too-good-to-be-true scenario to disappear and fade away like a dream. Eventually, Morry swallowed, and shakily extended an arm, and cautiously pushed against the door of his cage.

It opened steadily with a quiet creak, which lasted a solid ten seconds before ceasing along with the movement of the cage door.

As soon as the noise stopped, suddenly everyone was rushing the doors of their cages, forcing them open and scrambling to get out as fast as they could, before going to assist their neighbours in exiting as well. After Fen had aided the half-blinded mouse in getting to the floor, they called, “Everyone, this way! Hurry, this way!” Sam and Max then found themselves stepping aside quickly to make way for the rapid stream of desperate,  _ excited _ animal folks rushing through the door and into the halls.

When the last of them had exited, Max grabbed his husband’s arm. “Let’s get those kids and get outta here,” he said with determination.

Sam nodded, and the two of them soon took to the hallway again. As Max proceeded to lead the way, Sam pulled out the walkie talkie and said, “Flint, those people should be enroute t’ ya’ now - we’re headed straight t’ grab those kids.”

“ _ I hear ya’, Sam-o - I’ll keep an eye for ‘em, make sure they get t’ the van safe. _ ”

“Good. This should only take us a moment.” He put the walkie talkie away as Max turned a corner, heading down a hall before stopping by in front of a door. He looked puzzled, however, which in turn made Sam tilt his head. “What's wrong?”

Max paused for a moment, his ears twitching. “This is where they're supposed t’ be, but I don't hear anything…”

The dog’s brows furrowed slightly. “...Maybe they're just...sleeping?” he guessed, optimistic yet not entirely confident.

Max merely looked at him doubtfully, but reached for the knob and opened the door anyway.

Beyond the door, there was a dark, cold room with metal walls that merely had some tables and chairs - but certainly no kids of any sort.

Meanwhile, Flint was seated in the spot that Sam and Max had left him, with the walkie talkie placed on the grass beside him. He was beginning to see small shapes climbing over the edge of the stone wall which surrounded the building at the bottom of the hill. Upon seeing them, he got up at once, heading to the back of the van to open the damaged doors in preparation for their arrival.

However, as he was putting his hands on the handles, he heard a very distant sound that caught his attention and made him raise a brow. He paused for a moment in his confusion, before looking over in the direction of it - and widening his eyes at what he saw. “Oh no.”

“Dammit!” the lagomorph cussed after discovering the room he’d heard the kids from was empty. “That bastard must’ve moved ‘em!  _ Ugh _ , it’s like he  _ knew _ I’d come back - why the  **FUCK** else would he just  _ randomly _ move them!?”

“Hey, hey,” Sam said, kneeling to Max’s level as he attempted to calm him. “Look, it’s okay. We’re gonna find ‘em, alright? We’ve still got time.”

Of course, after he said that, the device in his pocket crackled. “ _ Uh, _ ” Flint’s voice came from it, “ _ Sam? _ ”

The dog found himself heaving a sigh through his nose before pulling it out and pressing the button. “What is it, Flint?”

“ _ The, uh - the others guys are showing up. They’re not close yet, but I can see them- _ ”

“Oh my God,” Max said quietly, then grabbed onto Sam’s jacket collar. “Fen and the others-!”

“Will be fine,” Sam assured, then spoke into the walkie again, “Make sure those people get outta there safely and don’t get caught. Max and I still gotta find those kids.”

“ _ I got it covered just fine down here, don’t worry. But hurry - I don’t want you or those kids t’ got caught between a rock and a hard place in there. _ ”

“We got this,” Sam said confidently. “We’ll see you there.” With that he shoved the device back into his pocket and turned to his partner, who was bouncing on his toes in his anxiety. “Let’s hurry.”

“Let’s,” Max agreed. 

As soon as the two turned to leave, however, there was a man in a security uniform standing in the doorway with a taser in hand aimed directly at them, yelling, “Freeze! I don’t know  _ what _ you’re doing here, but-!”

The security guard was interrupted by a bolt of electricity striking the taser, resulting in the weapon to spark momentarily before somewhat exploding in his hand, causing him to yelp in surprise and drop it. The taser clattered to the floor, smoking and sparking.

The man slowly lifted his gaze from it to the Poltergeist before him, who merely had an index finger pointed in his direction, his eyes glowing and sparks beginning to flood his veins, an angered expression on his features. The security guard then shakily lifted his hands up, and attempted to back away. “Look, I don’t want any trou-BLE!” 

In the middle of the guy’s sentence, Sam had lunged and grabbed ahold of his shirt collar, before spinning him around to slam his back onto the table in the middle of the room, making Max have to quickly hop out of his way, murmuring, “Holy  _ shit _ , Sam-!”

“Oh God,” the man said, immediately breaking into a sweat, “Please don’t hurt me-”

In a low, deep and dangerously calm voice, the Eidolon spoke, “A li’l bunny told me you were keepin’ kids here in this cruel facility of yours.” His voice then shifted to that of a growl. “Where  _ are _ they?”

“Th-they’re on the opposite side of the building, i-in a hall, just like this one - I swear, I’ve done nothin’ t’ hurt them or anyone here, I swear-!”

“I don’t give a  _ shit _ . You were part of it - you watched it happen. Jail is the very  _ least _ that you deserve, punk.” With that, Sam suddenly reared back his fist and swung it swiftly into the guy’s left cheek, and upon letting him go, the man crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

The lagomorph merely blinked at the unconscious man, repeating breathlessly, “Holy  _ shit _ , Sam…” He then looked up at his husband while he readjusted his tie, the glow of his eyes and veins fading, and cracked a bit of a smile. “That was kinda hot.”

Sam merely flashed him a small smile, saying jokingly as he began to exit the room, “Glad you enjoyed the show.”

“The ‘li’l bunny’ part though was just... _ ugh _ ,” he said as he followed his partner. “I mean, seriously?”

“Well, I was just tryin’ t’ do a play-on ‘li’l birdy’. I mean, ‘birdy’, ‘bunny’ - both start with B.”

“You should’ve done ‘li’l lagomorph’ instead! Least it rhymes.”

“I think you’re speakin’ of alliteration, Max,” Sam politely corrected.

“Who cares?”

“You crack me up. Anyway, the other side of the buildin’ is the front entrance, which is where I’m assumin’ these cops are gonna bust in through. So we gotta be careful, alright?”

“You’re sayin’ we gotta be careful after  _ that _ display ya’ just put on?”

“Listen, beatin’ up some skeezy asshole blows over a li’l better than beatin’ up a cop, as unfortunate as that is t’ say.”

“What’s the difference between the two?”

“Generally, none. For us, the fact that we gotta sit in a room for hours with one of ‘em, waitin’ for the Commissioner t’ get us pardoned if we get caught.”

“Fair point.”

And so the duo tried to be quick in running from one side of the building to the other, and even after that, there came the challenge of actually  _ finding _ them, which consisted of them looking in every room, swinging the doors right open if they had to, but finding no sign of them.

“Dammit,” Max said, beginning to grow more anxious with each empty room. “We’re running out of  _ time! _ ”

“Which is exactly why we have t’ keep  _ going _ ,” Sam insisted. “We  _ will _ find ‘em, there’s only so many places they could be.”

While the dog continued down the hall they were in, Max was about to follow him - then found himself stopping suddenly at feeling that same shiver down his spine that he’d felt when he’d first heard the whimpers of those children, his ears once again twitching as he suddenly heard their cries, which sounded much more desperate.

“Maybe they’ll be just right down the-” Sam started murmuring, before interrupting himself upon noticing how spaced out Max looked. “Whoa, li’l buddy,” he said, approaching him and kneeling in front of him. “Are you good?”

“I…” Max said quietly, blinked, then looked directly at Sam in the eye. “I need you t’ follow me.”

“I- okay, but wh-”

“I feel they’re close,” Max explained quickly, grabbing onto his partner’s hand and starting to lead him down the hallway, not necessarily knowing where he was going but feeling as if some unseen force was pulling him in the direction that he trusted was the way he needed to go.

“Wait,” Sam eventually said after his husband led him up to a certain point, his ears perking forward as he tried to hear better. “I think I hear them…!”

The lagomorph didn’t respond, too focused on continuing forward to respond. Eventually, his ear swivelled swiftly to a specific double door in the hall, and his head snapped in its direction shortly after. Without the slightest bit of hesitance, he rushed at the door, swinging the double doors wide open, the doors clanging against either metal wall.

Surely enough, sat on the floor in the center of the room, amongst the various machines that were currently shut off, sat a cage full of fluffy, red-furred puppies, all of which were whimpering loudly, some even nearly on the verge of howling.

“There they are!” Max said breathlessly, a bright, relieved smile starting to appear on his features. His ear then flicked for a moment upon hearing soft whimpering beside him, and looked over at Sam, who’d been making the noise in sympathy of the pups. “Sam?”

The dog promptly snapped out of it upon hearing his name, shaking his head. “We gotta get ‘em outta here, pronto, li’l buddy,” was all he said, before deciding to move forward to grab ahold of the cage, not even noticing the door on the wall on his right that was opened a crack. Upon seeing him, however, the pups only looked at him fearfully. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said gently, “We’re not here t’ hurt ya’. It’s gonna be okay.”

As Sam carefully picked up the cage, softly hushing the pups in an attempt to calm them with no success, Max appeared uncertain. “...Somethin’ feels off,” he said.

Sam looked at him with a part surprised, part confused expression. “What do ya’ mean?”

“They weren’t crying  _ this _ much when I last heard ‘em. Somethin’ obviously has ‘em spooked.”

“Well, look at the place they’re in - they could be scared of anything.”

“Sam-” he started saying, before both him and Sam’s heads turned in the direction of what sounded like people bursting in through the front door in the distance, their ears perked forward. Even the pups momentarily went quiet at the sound before resuming their upset sounds.

“We’re out of time,” the dog said. “We have t’ go  _ now _ . We’ll just have t’ try and keep ‘em quiet while we’re leaving-”

As Sam started making his way to the exit of the room, the smallest pup in the cage - a girl - extended her little arm out of the cage to try and grab onto Sam’s jacket sleeve, which made the dog pause in his tracks, and whined in annoyance, “ _ Nooo! _ ”

“Shh!” Max attempted to hush her, taking the cage from Sam to place onto the floor. “It’s okay, sweetie, you’re okay-”

“No! No!” she kept saying loudly, refusing to be consoled, then turned away from the dog and lagomorph and in the direction of the door that they still hadn’t paid any mind to, and started barking.

“Sam, I’m tellin’ you, somethin’ is  _ wrong! _ ” Max told his husband in a hushed tone. “We can’t leave until we know what it is!”

“What  _ could _ it be, though?” Sam asked genuinely.

“I don’t-” Interrupting Max was the sound of squeaking coming from the room attached to the one they were in, which instantly caught the duo’s attention.

It was the sound of a baby bunny squeaking in fear of its life.

Without hesitation, Sam and Max rushed towards the other door, with the Elder God taking his big ol’ rabbit foot and slamming the door open, the Poltergeist behind him sparking, prepared to attack if need be-

But both ended up freezing in place upon seeing Doctor Grimmd holding a white, squeaking baby rabbit, who was so young that their eyes were not yet open, lightly shushing it. “There, there, little one,” he said in that uneasily calm tone of his, “You’re in no danger.” He then turned to look directly at the pair, and asked, “Right, gentlemen?”

Although rage lined every fibre of the dog and lagomorph’s beings, both of them wanting nothing more than to tear into the man, neither of them made any move, because, as Grimmd had expected, neither wished to attack and risk harming the distressed baby rabbit that they’d failed to discover the existence of prior to this encounter. So both of them stood, angered and just barely restraining themselves for the safety of the child.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Max asked lowly, his calm tone barely hiding his wrath.

“Many things, Max,” Grimmd responded casually. “Of course, I am as flawed as any person is.”

“Oho _ ho _ , I wouldn’t say that. Not  _ any _ person would cage up innocent animal people like they were just pieces of meat t’ play doctor with - let alone use  _ kids _ . You’re  _ sick! _ ”

“I feel as if though you misunderstand my intentions.”

“What the hell is there t’ understand?” Sam demanded, his lip curled.

“My only wish has only ever been to relieve others of their burdens and their ailments that plague their lives. Take little K0, for example.” While he held the baby rabbit in one hand, he lightly stroked their back with the other. The rabbit had ceased their squeaking, but was visibly shivering. “Do you know what a  _ peanut _ rabbit is, Max? I assume your people have had them as well.” Max could only look at him with shock and disgust, but he continued nonetheless. “Cursed with being just  _ too _ small, they are doomed from the very start to live a pained life. A tragedy...but,” he said, clacking his teeth on the last consonant, “What if it could be helped? What if it could be taken away? How many of these poor souls could be-”

“Shut up,” Max hissed at him, baring his teeth. “There  _ are _ ways t’ help, you bastard.”

“Ah, to  _ help _ , but not to cure. That is the difference between what the world has, and what the world  _ could _ have.”

“That doesn’t make you  _ right- _ ”

“I have been at this mission for quite a while,” Grimmd continued, ignoring Max. As he spoke, he reached for a smaller cage that was on a nearby table, placing the baby rabbit inside. “And for a while, I received no luck. For a while, it seemed like a completely fruitless task. But then-” He shut the cage door and locked it, and looked directly at the lagomorph. “I received you.”

Sam found himself stepping closer to his partner defensively - practically putting himself in front of him to protect him.

“You were a  _ miracle _ . Your powers - they are absolutely astounding. It was as if the universe hid you away, only to present you to me when I was having my doubts.” He turned so that his entire body was facing the two, and clasped his hands together. “And you  _ opened _ my eyes, because your presence made me realize that  _ your _ abilities were the key to finding the solution I desired to see in life. Why, if everyone had your abilities, how much would their quality of life improve?”

Max slowly shook his head. “No. No, that’s not how it works. You can’t just  _ take _ my abilities and pass ‘em t’ everyone else in the world, that’s not how it  _ works- _ ”

“Oh? Is that so? Then do explain to me, Max, how P4 only began manifesting his abilities only  _ after _ coming into contact with you?”

The lagomorph’s brows shot up, his eyes widening in surprise at the statement. “...What?”

“When you and the children arrived at the facility on the same day, you were within close proximity of each other. Shortly after, P4 began to give off odd signs and behaviours, mostly involving spacing out and becoming unresponsive for periods of time. At first I simply thought he was sick, until he attempted to escape - through similar means that you had during your time here.”

He blinked, his head spinning through the information overload he was receiving right now, even placing a hand on his forehead as he tried to process it. “So  _ that’s _ how it happened…” he murmured. It...sort of made sense? He had been in contact with the Toys of Power prior to them being destroyed...but so had his great-grandpa Maximus, and yet being in contact with him had never activated his abilities. Maybe his aura was just...more potent? He  _ was _ an Elder God, after all…

He realized the doctor was staring at him, tilting his head, still waiting on an answer. “Well?”

“...I didn’t  _ give _ it t’ him like you’re thinking. He just- he already had them, they were just dormant-”

“But who is to say they aren’t dormant in anyone else? Who’s to say they  _ can’t _ be transferred from you into someone who would benefit greatly from them?”

“No, you don’t get it - I’ve  _ seen _ what these abilities can do t’ someone who wasn’t built for ‘em. Okay, even usin’ these powers  _ through _ somebody is enough t’ start hurtin’ ‘em. I’m tellin’ you, whatever help you think they could provide, they  _ won’t _ -”

“You say all of this,” Grimmd interrupted, “and yet, you hold no proof. You are just rambling thoughtlessly, saying anything to try and deter me because you are too stubborn to open your mind to the very thought of altruism.”

“ _ Altruism!? _ ” Max yelled, and was held back only by Sam touching his shoulder and the acknowledgement that that poor baby rabbit was still too close for Doctor Grimmd to be harmed without risking harming him as well.

“Face it, Max - you and P4 are the very things-” Max didn’t fail to notice the use of  _ things _ , and bared his teeth, emitting a low growl. “-that could fix what is wrong with so much of the world. If you would just rejoin me and  _ help _ me, we could all make this world a much better, safer, happier place - free of disease, free of flaw…”

Max now pressed his lips together in a tight line, rage all too visible in his glowing, pink eyes, his form trembling - hell, it was only thanks to his strong resolve that he wasn’t crying in anger. “I will never help you,” he muttered through clenched teeth, his jaw sore from the tension, “you sick, twisted fuckin’-”

Just then, the door on the farthest side of the room burst open, and while Grimmd turned around, frozen in his shock, Max was quick to duck back into the room behind them while Sam seemingly just vanished into thin air. Through the busted open door, there was a cop pointing a gun at the man and yelling, “Freeze! Put your hands in the air!” The doctor obliged so automatically, as if too shocked to even consider not cooperating. “Gwendal Grimmd, you’re under arrest for kidnapping, fraud, assault, shoplifting-”

While the officer was rattling off some other charges, it was worth noting that the so-called ‘doctor’ was standing directly in front of the cage that held the baby rabbit, thus obscuring the cops’ view of it. Which meant that when the cage mysteriously started floating, it went unnoticed by everyone in the room - aside from the rabbit himself, who gave a small, startled squeak at feeling the movement.

“Shh,” Sam, who was currently invisible to the mortal eye and had taken advantage of the obstructed view to help the poor kid, gently whispered. He then turned his gaze back to the police and the man - the former of which were approaching the latter - and promptly ducked out of the room with the baby before he could get caught.

Meanwhile, when Max had ducked back into the previous room, he had quickly grabbed the pups’ cage and proceeded to hide underneath the nearest table. Not at all a discreet hiding place, he knew, but he was more at risk of getting caught while trying to run than hiding there. And while he hid, he continued to hush the distressed pups gently, trying to encourage them to not make so much noise in this moment of urgency with little success.

However, one of them - the largest of the bunch - eventually ceased his crying and perked his ears up, his nose sniffing the air, which prompted the others to pause and start sniffing as well. The small female pup soon noticed the cage containing the baby rabbit floating towards them (though, when Max followed her gaze, he could see Sam approaching thanks to his being an Elder God), and started whimpering in her nervous excitement, which prompted the others to follow her gaze and start doing the same.

“Hush, babies, it’s okay,” Max murmured for the umpteenth time, before turning back to the currently invisible dog, who appeared as a shimmering outline to the lagomorph’s pink eyes.

“Scooch over,” Sam said quietly, which Max did. Sam then got to his knees and got himself under the table, handing the small cage to his partner. “Get ‘im in there.”

“What? Sam, he’s too small-”

“It might calm them down. Besides, it’ll be easier t’ leave with the one cage. Just do it.”

Max frowned with uncertainty, but did as he was asked, opening the cage door and removing the baby rabbit from it, quietly hushing the rabbit when he squeaked. He then carefully opened the pups’ cage, and began to place him within it. The pups’ whimpers began quieting, their tails wagging, and - to Max’s surprise - the smallest pup actually  _ reached _ for him, and Max soon found that she was taking the baby from him, holding him securely in her arms. At first, he was somewhat concerned for the rabbit’s safety, worried that the pup may accidentally be too rough with him. However, the small ball of white fluff didn’t utter a peep, nor did he even tremble in her grip. As far as Max could see, he appeared to feel safe there, and so he decided that, while he’d keep an eye on them just in case, he’d leave them like that for now, and shut the cage door again.

While he was doing this, Sam was purposely positioning himself to block off as much of his family from view as possible, even partially wrapping his arms around his husband and the caged kids just to ensure they were hidden. To explain this: due to Sam still possessing a corporeal form ( _ literally _ possessing), his invisibility did not make him completely see-through. Rather, it meant that if he stood in front of an object, he could obscure it from the view of the average eye with his own being. Which was precisely what he was doing now - using his body as a shield from any prying eyes.

This turned out to be a useful tactic, seeing as the police that now had Grimmd in handcuffs were now entering the room that they were all in, likely passing through since it was the quicker route to the front entrance where they’d parked their vehicles. As the ‘doctor’ approached, however, Sam shot a glare at him, but also thought of a plan. With some careful maneuvering to make sure that he was still blocking every part of his partner and the children (after all, it would look suspicious should anyone notice a disembodied tip of an ear or something along those lines), he turned to face the oncoming Grimmd, who was coming near the table they were hiding under, and slipped out his cellphone from his pocket and managed to subtly slip it into his without anyone noticing.

The only sound in the room were the multiple footsteps of the men as they exited the room and out into the hall, and eventually, as they grew more distant, there was nothing but silence.

“...What was that for?” Max inquired, having, of course, noticed what his husband had done just a few seconds ago.

“That was a special treat from me t’ you for later,” Sam muttered, looking over his shoulder to give him a knowing smile. “Once you’re up for it, he’ll be all yours, li’l buddy.”

At that, the lagomorph gave a large, sharp-toothed grin, excitement flashing in his eyes. “Oh, I look  _ forward _ to it. Thank you  _ very _ much for your generosity,  _ querido mía _ .”

“Anything for my handsome, lovely husband o’ mine.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to his temple, before proceeding to take one of his hands in his own, and helping his husband (who still managed to hold onto the cage with just one arm) out from under the table and to his feet. “C’mon - let’s get back t’ the car.”

“Let’s,” Max replied with a pleasant smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 goes up October 30th!


	10. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max return the pups to their home, and make a big decision.

The drive back somehow felt shorter than the drive to the facility had been - likely because there was no longer the stress and anxiety surrounding the possibility of failing the many people who had been trapped in that facility, along with getting caught themselves. Although, Sam could just as easily say that having the pleasant sight of seeing Max sleeping in the backseat along with the children, the blanket Max brought placed over them, in the rearview mirror helped to make the ride a little smoother. He dare say he even cracked a smile when he first saw them all dozed off, snoring quietly. 

(He failed to notice, however, how his chest momentarily glowed when he’d laid his eyes on the pups.)

In no time at all, they were finally re-entering New York City, and eventually pulled into the nearest alley that was safe from prying eyes, right behind the beige van Flint was driving.

Allowing Max to continue to rest with the kids (he had earned it, after all), Sam got out of the DeSoto, shutting the door behind him quietly, and approached the van just as Flint was also getting out. “We’ll probably have t’ find a way t’ get rid of that,” Sam said, nodding to the van.

“Eh, you let me worry about that,” the man replied, then proceeding to open up the damaged back doors to reveal the various animals, many of whom were asleep up until those doors opened and the afternoon sun began to shine in, prompting them to groggily lift their heads up. “Alright, folks - this is the last stop. Much as I’d like t’ take ya’ in further, I also don’t want t’ risk you guys gettin’ caught.”

That’s alright,” Fen spoke up with a yawn, getting to their feet and shaking themselves off, their raggedy tail poofing up momentarily after doing so. “Between the both of you, you’ve already done so much. We can handle it from here.”

“Before you do take off,” Sam said, digging into his jacket, “I believe these things are yours.” He then pulled out a handful of the items he’d found in the desk drawer and held them out.

Immediately, several of them perked up, with a chinchilla gasping and exclaiming, “My scarf!” With a few hops forward, she reached out and grabbed a piece of silk, hugging it to her. “My precious scarf…”

“They had these sittin’ in a desk,” Sam explained, then, as more animals began to come forward to claim their stolen belongings, got onto one knee and continued to hold them out. As each one claimed what was theirs - rings, necklaces, tiny articles of clothing - they decided to hop out of the van and take their leave, but not without them thanking the dog and man again. This lasted several minutes until, eventually, there was nothing left to return, and the majority of the now ex-prisoners had left to go enjoy their newfound freedom.

The squirrel and mouse had still remained, and the squirrel stepped forward, holding their fellow rodent’s hand to guide him. “Thank you again,” they said, “We never thought we would get out of there. It’s not like we had many people who’d even notice that we were missing…”

“Ultimately, the main person you should thank is Max,” Sam said with a smile. “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be standin’ here right now.”

“Well, I see he’s fast asleep back there, so please, let him know how we owe him everything - and if you ever need anything, we’ll be here.”

“Believe me, that offer for aid extends t’ all o’ you as well. You take care now - and be careful.”

“You too,” Morry spoke, his crooked whiskers twitching a bit. “And good luck with those kids.”

The dog was admittedly a little surprised by the last comment, but said “Thanks” nonetheless. After that, the red squirrel helped their partner out of the van, and the two were off as well. Sam then looked at Flint. “You sure you don’t need any help with this?”

“Nah, it’s all good,” Flint responded, patting the dog’s upper arm. “‘Sides, you gotta look after those kids. Best not t’ keep ‘em locked up in a cage for too much longer, yeah?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll take off here, then. I’ll give ya’ those files we found later, I just need t’ look over ‘em first.”

“Well, y’know where t’ find me,” he replied with a smile. “You all take care now, Sam-o.”

“You too, Flint.” With that, Flint shut the back doors and Sam began to head back to the DeSoto.

Just as the dog was getting back inside the car, Max began stirring awake, letting out a big yawn. “Did you give them back their stuff?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I did.”

“And did ya’ give the files t’ Flint?”

“Not yet. We still gotta find the li’l guy’s file in among the rest first before I do.” He looked over his shoulder to look in the back seat. “And t’ see where they all came from.”

Max blinked a bit, though it was hard to tell if it was from surprise or just blinking the tiredness out of his eyes. “What do y’ mean?”

Sam gave a small shrug, and said, “They had to’ve come from somewhere before the facility.” He turned to face forward in his seat. “Maybe we could find out where - return ‘em to their parents or somethin’.”

The lagomorph had a doubtful expression on his face, and while Sam turned the key in the ignition, he glanced over at the still sleeping babies, their backs and tummies rising and falling with each gentle breath they took. “Ya’ really think there’s someone out there for ‘em t’ take ‘em back?” he asked, the uncertainty clear in his tone.

Sam paused, both hands on the wheel, as he thought about what Fen had said, about how there wasn’t really anyone who’d be looking for them. His brows furrowed at the thought that the same would be true for the pups - but he simply shook his head, and said, “We have t’ check t’ see regardless, so...let’s hope so.”

Max eyed him in the rearview mirror for a moment or two before giving a quiet hum. Sam merely exhaled through his nose before beginning to back out of the alley, turning and driving calmly back to their home.

. . .

“Alright, li’l guys,” Max said pleasantly to the pups, who were awake and alert the moment the lagomorph had gone to pick up their cage and were now either frozen or trying to look around, as he followed behind his husband in through the door of their home and into the living room. “This is where you’re gonna be stayin’ for a li’l bit! It’s pretty big, but I dunno, maybe some of you will like it.”

“The only way they’re gonna find out is if ya’ actually put ‘em on the floor,” Sam teased as he tossed aside his jacket and hat.

Max gave a light huff. “Well,  _ excuse _ me for tryin’ t’ ease ‘em into it,” he replied, though clearly joking. Understanding that the dog was likely right, however, he did as he said, and got to his knees to safely place- “Oh, Sam, could you move the coffee table over? I don’t want ‘em t’ bang their head on it by accident.”

“Yeah, sure.” He went over and proceeded to lift the coffee table, moving it to the nearest empty space by the wall.

“Thanks, babe,” he said as soon as the table was out of the way, resuming what he was doing, which was placing the cage down onto the rug. He then unlocked the cage door, and swung it open, careful not to startle the skittish pups. “There you go,” he said gently. “Now you don’t have t’ be all cramped and cooped up in the cage.”

The pups, however, didn’t budge a single muscle. They merely stared at him.

“...It’s okay!” he reassured them, assuming that they were awaiting permission. “You can come out. In fact, I encourage it!”

They  _ did _ move a muscle this time - and that muscle was whatever muscle that worked the eyelid to open and close. In a less convoluted way of saying it; they blinked at him.

Max’s smile fell, a partially perplexed, partially concerned expression appearing on his features. He then turned to look at Sam, and said, “They’re not coming out.”

Sam, who had turned to also witness that the pups were stubbornly staying in one spot despite them now having the opportunity to do otherwise, approached them and his husband, crouching beside the latter. “Do you think they’re hurt?”

“Well, I’m not really sure, but they looked alright. They were pretty alert comin’ in. And they seem pretty alert now, don’t they?”

“They do,” Sam agreed. “Maybe they just...don’t wanna leave? They  _ have _ apparently been in that facility for a while. They could just be nervous t’ be somewhere new.”

“Mm, maybe,” the lagomorph murmured, though his partner didn’t fail to notice how he had one hand placed on his cheek, visibly looking worried.

“...Want me t’ call Mama Bosco?”

Max looked at him at once and said, “Could you? I just- I don’t know. I don’t think they’re hurt, but I just wanna make  _ sure _ , y’know?”

“I know, li’l buddy,” Sam said, nodding in understanding and sympathizing with his husband’s worry, patting the top of his head. “I’ll call ‘er right up.”

“Thanks.” As Sam stood up, Max gave him a smile, though as the dog walked towards the phone, the lagomorph looked back at the motionless pups with a frown.

By the time Mama Bosco arrived at their door, she had some items tucked under an arm and a bag hanging from the opposite shoulder. “Sorry for taking a bit,” she apologized upon Sam opening the door, fixing her hair with a free hand. “But I knew it would be  _ terribly _ irresponsible to show up without something to feed these babies with.”

“That’s awfully kind of ya’, Mama B, thank- you…” Sam had said, with the lady walking past him and entering the home before he’d fully finished his sentence. He merely gave a shrug and shut the door.

As soon as she laid eyes on the kids, which had still remained in the cage, she gave a gentle gasp and placed a hand over her mouth before moving it to her chest. “Oh my goodness,” she said quietly. “Aren’t they just the most precious things.” She set aside the items she had on the couch and the bag on the floor, and got onto her knees beside Max, who had moved away from the cage a little bit to give the pups more space but otherwise barely moved at all. “Now how could anyone on this damned Earth even  _ think _ about laying a greasy finger on their adorable little heads?”

“Seriously though!” Max said, shaking his head. “I tell ya’, I can’t  _ wait _ t’ get my fuzzy li’l mitts around that guy’s stinkin’ stick neck-”

“Sam said you thought something might be wrong with these little guys?”

“Uh huh,” Max replied. “But he says they might just be nervous and don’t wanna leave…”

“Well, I don’t think either of you are wrong. They could be overwhelmed by the new location and sights and smells, but I wouldn’t say they’re completely free of issues. I mean, look at their fur! All matted and filthy. And who knows what they could’ve caught while they were in there.” She then gave a warm smile. “Thankfully, that’s why I’m here. Now-” She pulled her bag over and dug through it, “I have formula and milk along with some baby food, and I also have some bottles, some sippy cups - and, because you mentioned the little, little guy there-” Referring to the baby rabbit, still being held in the smallest pup’s arms, “-I also got a dropper, just in case.”

“I’m, uh-” Sam scratched behind his ear, honestly looking a little lost with what she had said. “Guessin’ that’s your way of sayin’ we should feed ‘em first?”

“Of course! Who knows how well they’ve been eating. Now, here’s what we’ll do - since they’re a little stressed out and they don’t wanna leave the cage yet, why don’t I get some formula ready for the tiny guy, one of you keep an eye on them, and the other can check around this place and make sure there’s nothing these precious little babies can’t hurt themselves on? That way we can buy them a little time to feel more comfortable.”

Before the dog could open his mouth to agree, Max turned to him and said, “I’ll look ‘round the house and you watch them.”

“Oh. Uh- yeah,” Sam said as his partner and the scientist both stood up. “We’ll do that, then.”

“Try not to sit too close to them,” Mama Bosco advised while Max went off to inspect the house. “Maybe sit out of the way where you can still see them. Or lie down - they might feel more comfortable if you make yourself seem...not as tall.”

“...Alright,” Sam spoke after a pause. “Seems easy enough.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it!” She patted his chest. “I’ll get to work on this formula.” With that, she disappeared from the living room, making her way to the kitchen.

The dog watched her leave the room, then, as quiet fell over the room, he suddenly realized it was just him alone with the pups. “Yup,” he said quietly under his breath, readjusting his tie in an attempt to keep the nervousness of suddenly being responsible for six small, vulnerable lives from setting in. “Easy enough…” He then looked down at the pups in the cage, who were looking up at him with those big, adorable little eyes. He crouched down to peer at them with a tilt of his head, offering them a smile. “Hey, li’l guys,” he said sweetly. “You feelin’ comfy in that cage?”

The pups merely blinked at him, otherwise unmoving.

“Maybe we could fix this blanket up t’ make it a li’l more comfortable,” he murmured, but upon attempting to reach over their head to try and fix the blanket, one of them - a pup that had one brown eye, one blue, along with a fluffy, cream-coloured neck - suddenly lunged and nipped his hand. “Ow!” he exclaimed, quickly retracting it and leaning away from the cage.

“Sam?” Max called from a different room, having must have overheard the dog’s yelp. “You better not be givin’ those kids their first taste of blood!”

“Oh, shut it, melonhead!” he called back, then grumbled under his breath as he inspected his hand, seeing some of his fur on his ring finger parted from where the boy pup had gotten him. “Got quite the pair o’ chompers, don’t ya’, li’l fella?” he muttered, not so much annoyed at the baby’s action so much as the pain that stung just enough to be a nuisance.

When he lifted his gaze to look back at them again, he noticed the way the female pup with the baby rabbit in her arms seemed to hug him a little closer.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he reassured, “I’m not gonna take ‘im from ya’.” The small pup merely scrunched up her face, giving a low growl. Sam then found himself sighing, and mumbling, “Why am I tryin’ t’ reason with literal babies? They probably don’t understand a lick of what I’m…” He gave another quiet huff, eyeing the now on edge pups. “Okay, alright,” he said softly, then stood up, beginning to take some steps back. “I’m backin’ off, see?” Once he felt that he was back far enough away from them, he proceeded to start getting on his knees, murmuring, “And now I’m going on the floor…” Deciding to take Mama Bosco’s word regarding lying down, he did just that - lied face down on his stomach, with his right cheek pressed against the floor so he could still keep an eye on the pups, all while also trying not to feel a little ridiculous in doing this.

He continued to remain completely still and quiet, and the pups, too, remained still and quiet, their gaze still fixed on him. After a minute or two of doing this, Sam’s brows furrowed in thought. Maybe it was just the presence of people that made them nervous...but at the same time, he obviously couldn't just leave them alone in there.

He blinked a bit upon coming up with what he hoped was a decent solution, and promptly got up off the floor and to his feet, and walked out of the room. As soon as he was completely out of their sight, he decided to use his invisibility to cloak himself, then simply re-entered the room as quietly as he could and laid back down in the spot he was just in, and observed.

Well, the first thing a couple of them started doing after a moment was start whimpering, and it took everything in his willpower to try and not whimper for them in sympathy. Oh, the poor guys probably thought they had been left alone! However, before his heartstrings could be tugged too much for him to remain in this state, one pup - the other female pup, if he was recalling correctly - started pushing past her siblings and to the exit of the cage, which made Sam’s ears perk up in interest.

On all fours, this pup - who was less fluffy than her other sister and whose ears were more curved - was the first to exit the cage, but upon doing so, she didn't exactly look the most eager to start exploring. She appeared to be very hesitant, and had her head lowered to the ground, her little black nose twitching slightly as she began to sniff around cautiously. Sam noted how she seemed to stick close to the couch, likely afraid to venture too far out into the open.

He then noticed the largest pup - a boy with freckle-like markings and a white ‘V’ marking on his chest, with the same curved ears as the other pup that had exited - start leaving as well. He was still whimpering quietly but as he started inspecting his surroundings, his whimpers quieted until he was silent, his curiosity seeming to overtake his worry. Unlike his sister, he started wandering away from the couch and began wandering around the room. As soon as he did that, though, the female pup still in the cage barked, which seemed to startle him, and prompted him to retreat closer to his free-roaming sister’s side.

Sam continued to observe the wandering pups along with the ones in the cage (the pup that had bit him seemed like he wanted to explore a little as well, but was clearly being held back by his own wariness) before eventually Max came back into the room, saw the invisible dog and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, an amused smile gracing his features. “That’s a cute trick,” he spoke quietly, trying not to startle the wandering pups that had decided to stick themselves in a corner.

The dog’s ears perked up at hearing his husband’s voice, and he sat up quietly, giving a small chuckle. “Hey, least it worked somewhat,” he murmured.

“That it did!” Going on his tiptoes, Max snuck on over and took a seat beside his partner, deciding to watch the two pups that had left the cage, which now seemed content with sitting in the corner they had discovered. “They seem a little less nervous now that they're out.”

“Yeah. I mean, they're still a little skittish, but otherwise, it's a good start.”

The lagomorph leaned his head against his upper arm. “They sure are cute.”

“That they are.”

“...Sam?”

“Yeah, li’l buddy?”

“Just- speakin’ hypothetically, if, uh- if we can't...figure out where their parents are…” He pulled away to look at Sam in the eye. “What are we gonna do with ‘em?”

The dog blinked at the inquiry, before raising a brow. “What...what do ya’ mean?”

“I mean...I dunno. I was just thinkin’ that if -  _ if _ there was no one lookin’ for ‘em - maybe we could-” he started answering, but upon hearing footsteps approaching ended up saying “I’ll tell ya’ later” instead.

Mama Bosco re-entered the room with a bottle in one hand and the dropper in the other, which prompted Sam to become fully visible again. Of course, the immediate first thing she noticed were the two pups in the corner. “Oh!” she said pleasantly surprised. “Oh, you managed to get some of them to come out!”

“Aha,” Sam chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah. Nothin’ to it.”

“Don’t be so modest. It’s great! Now to feed the little guy…” As she started walking across the room, the two pups that were sitting in the corner seemed awfully interested in what the lady was holding, and while one started walking towards her on all fours, the other decided to try and get onto her two feet and began toddling over.

“Watch your six, Mama B,” Max said lightheartedly. “Got a couple o’ babies comin’ your way.”

This prompted Mama Bosco to pause in her step to look at the toddling tots. “Aww! They must be hungry, too.” 

The two puppies eventually reached her, and while the female pup plopped right onto her rear and looked up at her, the male pup started batting at her leg with one of his paws, whimpering quietly. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, babies, this isn’t for you. I’ll get you some milk right after I feed your baby brother, okay?” 

She then resumed her approach to the cage, and before she even knelt down in front of it, the pup with the fur over his eyes was sticking his head out of the cage and sniffing the air with interest, and the pup with heterochromia soon copied this action once the lady was on the floor.

“Goodness, you’re all hungry little things, aren’t you?” she murmured - though, of course, she didn’t fail to notice that the only pup that didn’t seem interested was the one that was holding the baby rabbit. In fact, the small pup merely tensed up when she got near. “It’s okay, hon, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Mama Bosco said gently, then carefully extended a hand. “May I see your brother?”

The small pup responded by turning herself so that the baby rabbit was out of the lady’s direct reach, and saying stubbornly, “Wiwl bubby.”

While Mama Bosco reeled back a bit, blinking in surprise, Max snickered a bit, then looked at Sam with a knowing smile. “Wonder who taught her  _ that _ ,” he teased.

“I-” Sam said, blinking and running a hand through the few tufts of hair on his head. “I only said it  _ twice _ since we found ‘em?”

“Doesn’t take ‘em that much t’ learn, Sam. I mean, seriously, have you ever accidentally cursed around a kid? Sticks to their impressionable young minds like glue.”

“As adorable as it is,” Mama Bosco said with a slight frown, “I still need to feed this baby and I can’t do it if she’s holding onto him...here.” She handed Max the bottle and dropper. “You hold onto this while I fetch some milk for these other guys. Maybe see if you can try to get him from her.”

“Sure thing!” Max replied pleasantly. While she got up and left the room once again, the lagomorph proceeded to open up the top of the bottle, then placed the dropper in, pressing the rubber handle and allowing the formula to shoot up into the dropper. “Hold this,” he murmured to Sam, handing him the bottle.

When Max proceeded to lean forward with the dropper, the small pup whined, “Nooo…”

Max lightly shushed her. “It’s alright. It’s okay.” He brought the dropper closer to the tiny rabbit in her arms, and while she remained frozen, the rabbit began to squirm a little, the small nubs that were his ears perking up attentively as he started making a sort of chomping motion, sensing the dropper and trying to get ahold of it, which he eventually did once Max got it close enough. “There you go,” the lagomorph murmured softly.

Mama Bosco came back shortly with another bottle in hand, and as she knelt in front of the cage again, she said, “Get ready to grab him, Max.” She then proceeded to bring the bottle close to the small pup.

At first, the pup didn't seem interested, but after giving a tentative sniff, she blinked, her defensive expression fading into a wide-eyed one. She started reaching for the bottle with one hand, allowing Max a chance to carefully take the baby rabbit from her to feed him properly. She barely batted an eye, and a moment later, she was taking the bottle from the lady and starting to drink.

“They're not normally meant to still be feeding from bottles at this age,” Mama Bosco said, almost looking a little relieved to see the strong-willed pup drinking, “But I don't know if they're weaned, and you're not supposed to wean them if there's anything stressful going on.”

“It’ll all work out,” the lagomorph said, now cradling the rabbit baby to his chest as he fed him, the tiny thing guzzling the formula down.

As the small female pup fed herself, her only sister decided to come waddling over and tried to take it from her. The small pup merely growled quietly before turning away so that the bottle was out of the other’s reach. The curved-ear girl then tried to move so she could try and grab it again, but, of course, the small pup had the advantage of being in the cage still, so all the other pup could do was bite at the bars while making grumbling sounds.

“Better get some more milk in here for ‘em before they start brawling over the one bottle,” the lady said, getting up. “Sam, why don’t you come in here with me so you can help me?”

Sam - who had been looking over Max’s shoulder at the tiny baby rabbit, a soft glow beginning to peek from his chest - looked over at her with his ears perked, the glow quickly fading. “...Me?”

“Well, Max is already busy feeding the little one, there.”

“But I- I don’t-”

She gave an amused roll of her eyes, shaking her head. “I’m not asking you to prepare it, I just need someone who can bring it to ‘em once it’s ready.”

“Oh! Okay. Yeah.” He got to his feet. “I can do that.”

“Don’t think you can slack off, though,” she said as he followed her out of the room, “Least you can do is watch while I do it - try to pick up on it for yourself.”

Although he realized what she might have been implying with the last statement, he didn’t say anything in case he was wrong, and simply said, “I can do that, too.”

. . .

Eventually, after a bit of a tedious process of warming up the milk, putting it in a bottle, then going into the next room to give it to one of the pups four more times, every one of the kids now was drinking from a bottle with content. By the time they had finished doing that, Max had finished giving the baby rabbit his third dropper-full - and yet said baby rabbit still squeaked for more.

“Goodness, he’s got an appetite for a li’l guy!” Max exclaimed, honestly impressed.

“A li’l man after my own heart,” Sam said jokingly, holding the pup with the fur over his eyes in one arm after having finally removed that cruel collar around the poor baby’s neck. The pup started squirming away from him, and Sam allowed him to sit back on the carpet.

“We’re gonna give you a break, li’l baby, okay?” Max told the tiny rabbit despite his insistent squeaking. “Don’t wanna accidentally feed ya’ too much…”

“Well, now that they’re all well and fed,” Mama Bosco said, “Time to try and look over these little guys to see if anything’s up with them. Why don’t we start with the rabbit boy here?”

As she extended her hands to take the rabbit baby from Max, Sam felt something tighten in his chest, a feeling of anxiety was creeping up on him. He quickly realized that the idea of sitting and listening to her spout off things that were potentially wrong with them seemed anything  _ but _ appealing, and so he found himself saying, “While you guys do that, I’m gonna check out these files o’ theirs, see if there’s anything I missed.”

Although Max flicked an ear, blinking at him, Mama Bosco herself didn’t seem to find anything off about his statement, and simply replied, “Okay! This’ll probably take a bit anyway, so take your time.”

“Yeah, this shouldn’t take me too long, either.”

After the dog had gotten up and left, the lady looked at Max and said, “You don’t have to stay, either. I know this could very well be...well, it could either be okay or bad, and I know waiting to see if it’s the latter might cause some anticipation anxiety.”

The lagomorph shook his head at once. “I don’t mind. I mean, I  _ do _ mind, of course, but- if there’s somethin’ up, I’d rather just hear it right away.”

“Alright.” She exhaled a sigh through her nose. “Things are already looking up just judging by them being up and walking around and eating without much issue, so hopefully that reflects the rest of the assessment.”

“Hopefully,” Max murmured.

“Now,” the lady cooed to the baby rabbit in her hand, which had ceased his squeaking, grabbing her bag closer to her, “Let’s take a look at you first, shall we, little fella?”

Meanwhile, Sam had gone into his and his husband’s room with his jacket, and dug through the bottomless pit that was the inside of it, removing the files he had by the handful, first removing the ones that belonged to the five Tibetan Mastiff pups and setting them aside onto the dresser, then dumping the many files onto the bed, and began searching through them for signs of the rabbit’s file that they had missed. Which, in hindsight, made sense how they missed it - if they were organized by species, there was never a chance that the little guy would’ve ended up in the same folder as the other babies.

Eventually, after much skimming and tossing aside the files of the various animals they had freed (including Max’s own file, which he removed and set aside as well with the intention of burning it later), he eventually located the file of the baby rabbit, whose photo appeared to be of him while lying on top of the other pups in a cage. Satisfied, he set aside the file with the other pups’, and started cleaning up the remaining ones in preparation to hand them off to Flint. He even took the time to organize them in alphabetical order while he was at it - not for any particular reason other than it seemed like the logical thing to do.

By the time he was done with doing that, he was gathering up the files and was prepared to go over to Flint’s office right then and there just to drop them off. After all, the guy currently didn’t have a working door thanks to that one goon who’d up and gotten himself arrested while they were out, so it’d take nothing for Sam to just drop them off and leave them in a safe place where they wouldn’t be stolen-

And yet...he found his gaze going over to the six files on the dresser. And instead of doing what he’d planned to, he instead set the files he had on the dress, and took the files of the children and decided to look through each of them, since he had only really looked over them for half a minute or so while in the facility. He had decided to go over the information that they provided, figuring that maybe he could find something useful - including but not limited to just where these pups came from and how Grimmd had even gotten those bony hands of his on these kids in the first place.

He started first with P0, the oldest and one of the only two girls in the litter. Described in the files as the smallest of the puppy litter, fluffy ears and neck, along with cumin-coloured fur (Wait, really? He’d have gone with himalaya himself, but hell, what did he know - he couldn’t see colour to save his life), the so-called ‘doctor’ had also described her as stubborn, stating that she ‘ _ often displayed signs of aggression _ ’. Protective of her siblings, yet not afraid to snap at them as well - though, she apparently went easier on the younger ones than the two closer to her age…’ _ despite the fact that they’re quintuplets _ ’, the file read sarcastically. On top of that, she was the most vocal ‘ _ and, frankly, has no volume control to speak of _ ’.

P1 was the other girl - the pup with curved ears who had left the cage first. In her file, it stated, ‘ _ she is inattentive and uncooperative. She hardly takes me seriously and believes everything is some sort of game. I will have to swiftly correct this mentality _ ...’ Sam growled lowly at that, his muzzle curling slightly. The file continued to describe how she was adventurous ‘ _ during her occasional free-roaming time _ ’ and seemed particularly fond of bothering her slightly older sister. As someone who had a younger sister himself, Sam had to say, he sympathized with P0 in that regard.

Next was P2, who was the pup with heterochromia and also the one that had bitten Sam. This little guy also had heart-shaped ears, and seemed to be on the smaller side compared to his other brothers and P1, and hardly had any fluff at all compared to all of his other siblings. Described as curious, was often fixated on his surroundings, and - and this gave Sam a bit of a laugh - ‘ _ the only one aside from P4 to have somehow escaped his enclosure. I have no idea how he did it, but he did. I’ll have to move him and his siblings to something more secure. _ ’ Although, the ‘doctor’ had also stated that he believed this pup could also have possessed abilities solely based on the fact that he was the ‘ _ only other pup with any hint of blue eyes like P4 _ ’.

“Yeah,” Sam murmured to no one in particular, shaking his head doubtfully, “I don’t think that’s how that works.”

P3 had been the other pup that had exited the cage and shared the same curved ears as his sister, though his were a touch fluffier. Along with the cream patch on his chest, he also had black lip markings and what seemed to be freckle-like markings, and was clearly the largest of the litter. And according to Grimmd’s terribly specific labelling of colours, he was a ‘ _ pickled bean _ ’ colour. That was...kind of cute, actually. Anyway, this pup was summed up with one specific phrase at the start of his personality description: ‘ _ The lights are on, but no one’s home _ ’. He was oblivious, reacted to a lot of things with merely a blink and generally didn’t seem to take interest in much. ‘ _ I did catch him once, however, eyeing a spider that had wiggled its way into the facility and started crawling by his cage, and had attempted to get it to crawl onto his paw. He started crying after I squished it with an old newspaper. _ ’

Sam frowned at that, almost a little disgusted by the man’s actions. Somehow, out of everything Grimmd had done, this felt like the most needlessly cruel thing. Who the hell does something like that, let alone write about it? It was just downright rude and he hated it. He hated this man. In fact, he was going to move on from this file now, because he was just that disgusted.

Finally, of the puppy litter, there was P4 - the Psychic pup, who kept his fur over his eyes (which were apparently blue, judging by P2’s file), and whose ears were more similar to Sam’s than his siblings. Only showed signs of his powers shortly after coming in contact with ‘R4’, which Sam had discovered was Max’s code number, and displayed signs of ‘ _ minor precognitive abilities and teleportation _ ’ prior to the man putting the collar on him as well. And out of all of his siblings, he was the only one that hadn’t yet uttered a word. ‘ _ Despite my efforts, he remains silent. The most I have ever heard from him were merely whimpers at most. He hasn’t even barked as far as I’m aware. _ ’

Sam could relate to that. His family had spoken about how quiet he was around that time and how he’d rarely spoken as well. Now he couldn’t shut the hell up, but he digressed - the point was that he saw a little of himself in this particular little guy.

Last but not least, there was K0 - the snow white puffball that was the baby rabbit, or, as Grimmd has referred to him,  _ peanut _ rabbit. Date of birth unknown - only that he was only a few weeks old. It was stated in his file that as a result of his condition (the file said ‘ _ defect _ ’, but he mentally replaced it with ‘ _ condition _ ’), he was about the size of an actual baby rabbit, as opposed to the typical rabbit person who was closer to the size of a human infant, even at just a few weeks. Apparently had a sensitivity to dairy (Dang - he should probably bring that up. Hopefully what they were giving him wouldn’t be too bad), and, just like all the other pups, he’d been given up willing by his only guardian-

...Wait,  _ what? _

Sam blinked in shock at what he’d just read, and found himself having to read it over that part again. ‘ _ Just like P0 to P4, _ ’ it read, ‘ _ K0 was given to the facility willingly by his sole guardian, who - again, just like the single parent of the quintuplets - did not wish for the responsibility of this child… _ ’

The dog clutched to the file so tightly that he nearly threatened to tear it, a rage building within his chest and spreading to his stomach in a way that made him feel absolutely  _ sickened. _ When Max had brought up the possibility of them having no one to return them to, Sam had assumed that the worst case scenario would simply be that they were orphans. He was wrong - this was so,  _ so _ much worse, and it angered him to the point where hot tears were beginning to well up in his eyes just at the mere thought that the people meant to care for these kids could be so  _ irresponsible _ , so  _ negligent _ -

“Good news, Sam!” Sam heard the lagomorph say as he approached the bedroom, prompting Sam to quickly try and wipe at his cheeks just before his partner entered the room. “Mama Bosco says there’s nothin’ too bad goin’ on with ‘em. Might need t’ take ‘em to a doctor for some shots or something, though.”

“That’s great, li’l buddy,” the dog replied, giving a smile, genuinely relieved to hear that they were okay.

Of course, Max was not so unobservant that he didn’t notice that Sam’s cheeks were slightly flushed and slightly wet with tears (along with the slight glow of his chest), and at once he frowned in concern. “...Are you alright?”

Sam’s smile fell slowly, and his gaze lowered before he turned his head away and shook his head slightly. “...You were right,” he said quietly. “Those poor kids have no one t’ go back to…”

“Oh, Sam,” Max murmured, immediately going over to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want t’ be right, I just-”

“Their parents gave ‘em away, Max.” This made the lagomorph pause, wide-eyed with shock. Sam looked at him, a tear rolling down his cheek. “They didn’t want ‘em, so they gave ‘em t’ Grimmd.”

“...What? Whoa, hang on- where did you-?” Before he even finished his sentence, Sam was handing him the baby rabbit’s file. Max scanned it over, and, once he’d reached the text that Sam had read, he immediately felt a lump build in his throat, his ears falling against the back of his skull. “...Oh,” was all he could say, his voice just barely above a whisper.

Sam merely shook his head, his muzzle curling again, as did his stomach as he felt anger building inside again - and yet all he could find himself doing to express this anger was let out a weak sob. “I just- I wasn’t expecting- I just don’t  _ understand _ . These people were supposed t’ protect these kids, and they just handed ‘em off to- to  _ him _ . They didn’t even care. They clearly didn’t. Who could ever be so cruel to do this t’ their own kids? They’re  _ babies _ , Max! They can’t even defend themselves-”

Along with the glow in Sam’s chest flaring up from beneath his ribs and to his abdomen, his trembling hands fritzed for a moment, similar to what it had done when his powers had been overloading. Upon spotting it, Max found himself placing a hand on top of it at once to both keep his partner’s form from flickering as well as comfort him. His gaze was lowered and his brows were knitted together in an expression that could only be described as both solemn and angered. Just as Sam was, he was enraged to hear this absolutely horrible treatment, but, rationally, he had to accept that there wasn’t anything that could be currently done about it. 

Eventually, he took in a deep breath through his nose to try and release the tension from his shoulders, and promptly abandoned the file on the bed to wrap his arms around his husband, who, in turn, hugged him right back. His form began to tremble with held back sobs that only served to shake him to his very core.

“I don’t know why this feels so  _ bad _ ,” Sam said in a tiny voice. “I just figured I’d be  _ pissed _ \- I  _ am _ pissed, but-” He hugged Max a little closer. “I don’t know…”

“...Well, it’s as ya’ said,” Max murmured, pressing his nose into Sam’s cheek, “It’s hard t’ understand how someone could do such a thing.” He pet behind Sam’s head, silence falling over them for a moment or two. “...We can’t hand ‘em off t’ anyone,” he eventually said.

“No. You’re right, we can’t. We can’t trust anyone with those kids.”

“We have t’ take care of ‘em ourselves.”

“We…” The dog blinked, realizing what Max had said, and found himself pulling away to look at the other with a surprised expression. “What?”

Max’s expression didn’t shift at all. “We have t’ take care of ‘em ourselves,” he repeated. “You just said so yourself, we can’t trust anyone with ‘em.”

“I-I know what I said, and I stand by it, but...”

“But what? It’s not like we haven’t been parents before, Sam.”

“Yeah, to a  _ chicken _ and a  _ gator _ , Max! I mean, that’s  _ wildly _ different than these guys!”

“How?” he asked genuinely, canting his head.

“I just- I-I dunno, they just are! I mean, okay, Chika and John are smart, but they’re not full-on  _ sentient _ like these guys are, Max! And I dunno the first thing about bein’ an  _ actual _ parent - what if I screw things up? What if they got hurt ‘cause of my incompetence or somethin’? What if-”

“Sam,” Max said calmly, “Listen t’ me. This right here-” He placed a hand over the Poltergeist’s glowing blue chest. “- _ proves _ that you care about those li’l guys. Like,  _ really _ care for ‘em.”

Sam opened his mouth to reply...then found himself clamping his mouth shut because he knew that Max was right. That was sort of the benefit to having his abilities empathetically linked in such a way, he supposed.

“You already care more for those kids than even their own damn parents, and you’ve only had ‘em for less than a day.” He removed his hand to cross his arms. “And besides, what’s all this ‘I’ business? You think I’d ever leave ya’ t’ figure it all out by yourself?”

The dog looked his face over for a moment before giving a soft smile. “Right,” he said gently. His expression turned thoughtful. “...I don’t know, I just- six kids? One of them bein’ Psychic like you, I mean, it’s  _ nuts _ , Max.”

In response to that, Max merely grabbed his husband’s face, looked him right into those gorgeous, precious eyes of his, and said, “ _ We’re _ nuts, Sam! Always have been! I know that whatever challenges these kids come with, we can handle  _ because _ we’re us!”

“...You really want these kids, huh?”

“Babe, I wanted these kids the moment I laid my eyes on ‘em. And I know, you had t’ make sure there was someone else lookin’ for ‘em first, but-”

Sam interrupted him by giving him a kiss on his pink nose, which earned a giggle from the lagomorph. “Okay,” he said softly. “We can do that.”

Max gave a wide, sharp-toothed grin, and proceeded to wrap his arms around his husband’s neck, who hugged him back in return.

“Aren't you just a gorgeous little thing?” Mama Bosco cooed as she let the pup with heterochromia sniff her free hand (the other was holding the baby rabbit) tentatively, curiosity clear in his eyes yet wariness lining his body. The pups had finished eating a few minutes ago, and now were either congregating in the corner or had gone back into the cage. Sam, carrying Max in his arms, entered the room again, and the lady looked over at them. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Sam replied, moving to take a seat on the couch. “Max and I were just havin’ a bit of a talk, and we’ve come to the decision that we’re gonna adopt these li’l guys.”

She blinked for a moment, but said cheerfully, “Well, that's great! Except, uh...frankly, I’d already assumed you were going to.”

While Max laughed at that, Sam merely blinked before replying, “Oh.” Pause. “...Well, now it's official.”

“And that's awesome to hear. Now-” Since the pup that had sniffed at her hand had decided to toddle off, she sat up straight, and said, “I have an old crib, but it’s still in pretty good condition, so I was thinking of grabbing that for you guys so these babies have something a little more comfortable to sleep in.”

“Bold of you to assume that I’m lettin’ these babies sleep away from m-” Max started saying, before Sam lightly shoved him off of his lap and face first onto the couch beside him.

“Sounds good, Mama B,” the dog replied.

“Perfect! I’ll go fetch it for you two, then.” With that, she proceeded to get up and gently handed the baby rabbit to Sam, whose ears perked up as he took him. She then headed for the front door, saying, “I’ll be back in a few!”

Max sat right up with a grin and said, “Take your time!” After that, the door shut.

Sam was staring down at the tiny baby rabbit with a look of wide-eyed awe. “Look at him, Max,” he murmured. “He’s so small...so fragile…”

The lagomorph moved over to look at the baby in his hands. “Your thumb’s practically the size of his head!”

“It sure is, li’l buddy…God, he’s so cute.” Sam curled his thumb inwards with the intention of gently stroking the little rabbit’s head. However, as soon as his thumb got near the rabbit, the baby, mistaking it for food, decided to lunge and bite his thumb. “ **_A-_ ** ”

. . .

The so-called ‘doctor’ sat on the seat in his cold holding cell just as he had been the past- why, must have been  _ several _ hours by now, and still, no one had really spoken to him since his being thrown in there and neglected like some animal. However, he had learned patience, for it was not the first time he had been in such a situation. Patience was a virtue he had to learn with a job like his - after all, it was so hard to convince the narrow-minded that what he was doing was for the greater good of man, and his methods of doing so were the only effective means. He hardly even flinched when the lights shut off - he merely hummed indifferently, supposing that it had simply struck an hour where it was time for everyone to leave, and he was simply meant to expect that he would be left alone for a few hours more.

What  _ did _ take him off-guard, however, was the sudden ringing of a phone that sounded...unusually close.

Although it surprised him, he kept himself composed and merely raised a brow at the sound, appearing more curious than astonished by the sound. Still, he found himself finally standing up from his seat and approaching the bars of the cell, turning his head this way and that in an attempt to identify where this ringing sound was coming from. Eventually, however, it stopped before he could determine the location of the sound. After looking for a moment longer, blinking once, he hummed again, straightening his posture and shoving his hands into the pockets of his short lab coat-

...His brows furrowed upon feeling some object in there, and after running his hand over it to feel a metal surface, he pulled it out and discovered it was a cellphone.

“Curious…” he murmured. Had this been the source of the ringing for that short minute? As he continued to stare at the phone, he turned, intending to return to his seat, lifting his gaze- and gasping in shock, dropping the phone as he quickly backed away, clutching a hand to his chest.

There on his seat sat Max with a leg crossed over his opposite knee, and, upon seeing the man’s fright, gave a terrifyingly wide grin, lined with those shark-like, sharp teeth of his. “What’s up,  _ doc? _ ”

Grimmd stared at him, wide-eyed, then looked over his shoulder through the bars, then back at him. “How...how did you-”

“Same exact way I got out of your Godforsaken facility,” he replied before the other finished his question, observing his claws casually. “My powers have a lot of limitations - that’s exactly why my lovely husband did me the favour of slippin’ his cell into your pocket!”

“He…” He glanced down at the cellphone on the floor. “...I see.” He then lifted his gaze back to the lagomorph. “And I don’t suppose you're just here to pick up what is rightfully his, then.”

“Oh, of course not!”

“I see,” the man repeated, glancing over his shoulder again-

“Don’t bother searchin’ for a camera. They got ya’ placed right in a blind spot. They’re pretty good that way,” he added sarcastically.

“Max,” Grimmd said, attempting to keep his tone calm as his pale eyes looked at him again. “If you kill me, they will figure out it was you-”

“Bold of you t’ assume they’ll even care if a scumbag like you lives or dies. I mean, they hardly even care about the average citizen, so, y’know, if anything, takin’ care of ya’ would be takin’ one last thing off their plate.” He merely gave a shrug.

“Max, just think this through for a moment, please.”

“Oh, I have thought it through, Doctor Grimmd.” Somehow, his grin widened. “And I think I’m gonna  _ enjoy _ this.” 

Almost exactly like how the Demogorgon from Stranger Things opened its mouth, Max, too, opened his maw in a frightening and grotesque manner, revealing ‘petals’ lined with sharp, jagged teeth, a wide, fanged mouth in the center of them, and uttering a loud, guttural growl.

. . .

With a lot of getting bitten, dealing with squirming puppies, grumbling and, above all, patience, Sam managed to transfer the sleepy yet stubborn pups into the crib that Mama Bosco had helped place in their bedroom, and was only now grabbing the blanket from the cage to place over them. 

By the time he returned to the crib, the pups had already seemed to have accepted their fate and plopped down. He happened to notice that they had all placed themselves in a way that they were forming a protective circle around the baby rabbit, who looked like nothing more than just a cotton ball among his clearly larger siblings. Sam gave a warm smile, his chest glowing dimly at the sight, before finally settling the thin blanket over them.

His ears caught a strange sound in the distance along with the sound of the home phone ringing for a second, and though they twitched for a moment, he was otherwise unalarmed and unbothered. Shortly after the phone stopped ringing came the sound of those large feet slapping against the hardwood floor of the house, and soon enough, Max was entering the room.

As soon as the lagomorph entered, he looked at the crib and gave a small smile. “Get ‘em in okay?” he asked quietly.

“Well,” Sam replied with a joking tone, “I certainly got ‘em  _ in _ .” Max merely gave an amused chuckle. “How ‘bout you? You have fun?”

“Oh, an absolute  _ blast _ .” He then held up Sam’s cellphone, waving it for a moment before tossing it to his partner.

The dog caught it, and murmured, “Thanks.” As he pocketed it, he said, “Make sure t’ wash your face before ya’ lie down.”

“Smooch me first.”

“Absolutely not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be on November 6th!


	11. The Hard Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max discover quickly that the adjustment period is just as hard for the pups as it is for them.

It had to have been only a mere couple of hours when Sam had gotten the kids to bed, and Max had joined him on the bottom of the bunk bed (which, as fun as it was to have one, they really needed to replace it with something larger at some point), curled up right against his husband’s chest and stomach, when the late night crying began to start. It had woken both the dog and lagomorph right up, both their floppy ears perking forward at the noise, a brief, involuntary whimper leaving Sam’s throat upon waking and hearing the crying. He wasn’t the only one, for the pups that weren’t crying were beginning to whimper in sympathy of their upset sibling as well.

Silently, Max wormed out of his husband’s grasp and crawled over him to hop off the bed, and Sam grunted quietly as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, stretching with his arms over his head for a moment before bringing them back down. When he glanced at the nearest clock with a hand on his neck, he could only grimace at it slightly.

Max went over to the crib to find the small female pup ( _ God _ , they really had to think of some names for these little guys) sitting up in the crib, her face contorted as she wailed loudly while one of her siblings attempted to lick her cheek to comfort her. The lagomorph could only sigh quietly through his nose, and murmur, “There, there,” before reaching into the crib slowly, making sure not to startle her by accident.

At first, upon seeing his hands, she pulled away, slapping at one of his hands with the intent of rejecting his attempt to console her. He paid little mind to it, though, and carefully picked her up and lifted her out of the crib. Her siblings all watched him as he did this, their whimpers growing a little louder as if worried for their sister. Max gently hushed them, but they didn’t quiet down any. The only reason they quieted their whimpers at all is upon seeing their sister hold onto Max’s shoulders while she cried.

Sam had walked up behind him at this point, and, after eyeing his partner cradling the upset pup, asked quietly, “Is she okay?”

“I think so,” Max murmured in reply. “I think she just could be hungry or somethin’. Pretty normal…”

Sam hummed in understanding - he could remember his own sister crying all the time at night when she was a baby as well. “I can get her some milk,” he offered.

“Good idea.” It was probably better for Max to be the one to stay and comfort her. After all, unlike Sam, none of these pups seemed to want to bite him - likely because he was shorter in stature and thus not quite as intimidating to the little guys.

Sam merely nodded then exited the bedroom. While he did that, Max brought the pup over to the bed and took a seat on the edge of it, quietly hushing her while bouncing her lightly in his attempts to calm her down. A short bit after, Sam returned with a bottle in hand, and approached Max and the pup and knelt down onto one knee.

The lagomorph took the bottle from him, murmuring a thanks, then offered it to the pup that clung to him and buried her face in his dewlap (which had grown a little in the past six months, presumably). “Here, baby...”

Neither of them were certain if the pup had been startled by the bottle or was once again reacting to their trying to be kind to her by rejecting it, but she slapped the bottle out of Max’s hand, knocking it to the floor. Thankfully, it didn’t break open upon impacting the floor, but it still clattered loudly against the hardwood. The sound of the clatter had quieted the pup’s crying, her gaze snapping towards the bottle in surprise. She stared at it - and then her wails picked up again at a somehow louder volume, which made both of her new dads wince in slight pain.

“Sam, pick that up, please,” Max said, trying to keep the baby from squirming out of his arms. The dog promptly did so, and handed the bottle back to his partner again, who now decided to put right to the upset puppy's mouth. She clamped her mouth on it, and drank for a few seconds before taking it from him, small tears going down her cheeks but otherwise quiet. “Atta girl,” he said softly, fixing his grip on her while she drank up.

Of course, it was worth noting that when she had gotten more distressed after slapping the bottle from Max’s hand, the other pups, too, had gotten distressed (which, judging by their reaction to her being removed from the crib, may have very well been  _ for _ her). The brief commotion they caused in their short-lived worry had alarmed the currently sightless baby rabbit, who was now beginning to cry as well.

“Oh God,” the lagomorph said tiredly. “Sam-”

“On it,” was all Sam said, and proceeded to exit the room again, and again came back after a time with a bottle, though he now had the dropper in hand as well. He set both items aside on the dresser, then carefully reached into the crib. Though the other pups seemed wary and defensive of their youngest brother, they at least didn’t bite Sam’s hands...again.

As the dog lifted up the crying rabbit, he held him close to his chest, quiet whimpers leaving his throat, and that azure glow sparking up once again. Surprisingly enough, when the latter occurred, the rabbit baby’s wails turned into unhappy whines - as if something about the presence of this empathy-induced light was soothing, even for a kit whose eyes had not yet opened.

Sam took the objects off the dresser, then sat right next to Max on the bed. He gently sat the baby rabbit on his lap and unscrewed the lid of the bottle before drawing some formula into the eye dropper. After placing the bottle aside, he then gently picked the baby rabbit back up and brought the dropper to his mouth. The little guy was more than happy to latch onto it and drink greedily, his tiny feet kicking in his joy.

Although the pup had only finished half of the bottle, she finished drinking, lowering the bottle and nearly dropping it before the lagomorph managed to take it before she did so. “There you go,” Max said pleasantly, seeing that she was a lot calmer now, “That’s better.”

However, as soon as he leaned over to put the bottle down, the other pups - who had been watching their two siblings eat the whole time, were now standing up with their paws on the rail of the crib. They looked expectantly at their two new dads, and the largest one was even giving a drawn out whine.

“Uh oh, li’l buddy,” Sam said with a furrowed brow, looking over at his partner. “Looks like all of ‘em wanna eat now.”

Max sighed. “ _ Ooof _ course they do. Lucky they’re so cute,” he added jokingly. He stood up from the bed and headed over to the crib with the intention of placing the small pup he had back in.

As soon as he started bending over, though, the small pup started clinging to the lagomorph’s arms and said defiantly, “No!”

Max blinked in surprise, then furrowed his brows slightly as he straightened his posture. “Sweetie, you gotta let go of Papá-”

He wasn’t sure if she actually comprehended anything he’d said or if she was just being stubborn, but she interrupted him with an even more insistent, “ _ Noo! _ ” She then wrapped her tiny baby arms around his neck and hugged him tight, burying her face in his shoulder.

His heart immediately squeezed at the action, his ears pinning back more firmly despite them already being floppy. It was then that it hit him that she didn’t want to let go of him - and considering the life she’d had prior to that? No. He couldn’t put her back in.

He turned to Sam at once, and said, “We can’t let ‘em sleep in this crib, Sam, we just can’t!” The dog’s ears perked up in surprise at the lagomorph’s sudden words. “We have t’ let ‘em sleep in the bed with us!”

Sam merely looked at the pup in his arms, clinging onto him like some sort of lifeline, and he gave a small shrug. “Can’t think of a reason not to,” was all he replied.

This earned a wide smile from the lagomorph, and immediately he went over and placed the small pup in his arms onto the lap of his partner. “Just keep an eye on ‘er while I feed these other guys, alright?”

“Yes siree, li’l buddy.”

“Don’t say ‘yes siree’, Sam.” With that, he turned back to the crib, moving to take the largest pup out to feed him.

The baby rabbit had finished feeding by that point, and, when Sam removed the dropper, didn’t utter a peep unlike last time. Sam merely figured the little fella must’ve been sleepy. Adorably enough, though, the small pup that sat beside him was eyeing the rabbit in his hands, and eventually batted at his arm gently with her paw, and babbled, “Wiwl bubby.”

He chuckled in amusement. “I suppose he is your li’l buddy, huh?” The pup merely looked up at him and tilted his head. He decided to lower the baby rabbit closer to his lap to allow her to be able to reach him. In turn, she sniffed her youngest brother, then gave him a small lick on his head. This earned a small, annoyed squeak from the rabbit, who then curled right up in Sam’s palm, burying his face and resuming his clever disguise as a small serving of mashed potatoes.

The two parents ended up taking turns between feeding a pup and cuddling the ones that had already eaten. By the time they finished, all the pups were full again, and visibly ready to doze off.

“Alright,” Sam said quietly, standing in front of the bed and leaning his forearm against the wood of the top bunk. “How’re we gonna fit ‘em all reasonably on the bed?”

The lagomorph hummed in thought, looking at the pups with the snoozing baby rabbit cradled in his hands. “...Here, I have an idea.” He proceeded to start making his way to the far end of the bed, which was already enough to make those half-asleep puppies become fully alert again, watching the lagomorph’s moves. A couple of them even started automatically following him.

Once he had reached the far end, he carefully laid himself down on his side, carefully placing the baby rabbit by his dewlap. The pups that had followed him were quick to plop themselves down near his abdomen. The other pups that had sat and watched now moved across the bed after him as well, and soon enough, there was a small pile of puppies lying right beside Max.

He flashed a toothy smile to his husband, giving the ‘OK’ sign. “Mission accomplished!” he whispered cheerfully.

“You crack me up, li’l buddy,” Sam replied quietly. He then proceeded to slip into bed along with them, deciding to position himself on the other far end, figuring it’d be good to give the little guys as much room as possible. As soon as he was settled, some of the pups lifted their heads and looked over their shoulders at him.

“Think you can turn that ol’  _ nightlight _ down, Firefly?” Max asked, referring to the glow of Sam’s chest, though clearly just kidding.

Sam responded jokingly, “Can’t turn down how much I care, I’m afraid.” He then added genuinely, “I’m sure once I get this blanket on, it won’t be as bright for the-” 

In the middle of his sentence, one of the pups - namely the one with the fur over his eyes - had gotten up and gone right over to him, and had pleasantly interrupted him via suddenly plopping down right against his chest. 

“...Oh,” the dog said quietly. Two other pups - the largest pup and the one with heterochromia - shortly followed suit, and pressed themselves right against Sam’s large form. His heart swelled at the sight, and he murmured, “Oh, I think I may cry.”

Max shook his head, and teased, “Hoggin’ all the babies.”

“Oh, shush, you still got half.”

“Hoggin’  _ all _ the babies…”

Sam merely shook his head in amusement, then laid his head down on the pillow. “Night, Max.”

The lagomorph gave a big yawn. “Night, Sam.” With that, both the dog and lagomorph shut their eyes, drifting off back to sleep.

Until about forty minutes later when the baby rabbit had awoken again with a cry, earning a groan from Max, and an “I’ll get it” from Sam before he got out of bed again.

. . .

The next morning, there was a knock on the front door. Shortly after, it was opened to reveal a smiling Sybil with some bags in her hands. Though, after the door had been opened, she gave one look up and down before frowning slightly. “Jesus. You look like shit.”

Standing on the opposite side of the open doorway was Sam, looking incredibly disheveled, with his fur a mess and bags under his eyes. The only reply he could give to that was a sarcastic, “Thanks.”

“Hey, I’m not making fun. I get it.” Sam had stepped off to the side to allow her entry, and so she entered. “First night’s always the hardest.”

“ _ Yyyup _ .” He shut the door, then turned to face her, placing his hands on his hips as he looked from her to the bags in her hands. “And I’m guessin’ all o’ this translates to ‘I heard the big news?’”

“Flint told me,” she informed him. “Everything from the recovery of your memory to the facility to...well, I’m sure you get it. Congratulations on all three things, by the way.”

“Well, thank you on all three things.” He gestured to the bags and said, “Mind if I look?”

“You can.” He went to take one of them, and she promptly moved it away from his reach, and pointed at him. “ _ After _ you show me these new babies of yours,” she clarified, a slight smile curling at the corner of her lips.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he joked, an amused smile appearing on his own features as well. 

Wordlessly, he gestured for her to follow, and led her into the living room where the smell of cooking eggs and bacon wafted through the air all the way from the kitchen, and where Max sat on the couch feeding the baby rabbit once again while the other pups were exploring their surroundings again, though still sticking close by the walls.

“Oh my  _ God _ ,” she said, “They are so friggin’  _ cute! _ ”

“Yeah, they sure are - when they’re not cryin’,” Sam said jokingly. “Just be a li’l careful around ‘em,” he advised. “They’re a touch skittish. New environment, poor past experiences - you get it.”

As Sybil nodded, Max decided to cheerfully add in, “They also bite! Especially this one-” Referring to the baby rabbit he had with him. “He bites any time you bring anything near his tiny li’l maw!”

“...Got it,” she replied after a moment, before finally handing Sam the bags. As he looked into one of them, she explained, “It’s nothing much - just some stuff I quickly picked up at a store. Um-” She tapped her index fingers together, and continued, “I, uh, wasn’t sure if human toys were okay or if dog toys were, so I just...got both, I really hope that’s okay-”

“Yeah, it’s- it’s fine,” he reassured her, shifting the bags to one hand so he could place his free one onto her shoulder. “You’re good. These are good - I’m sure they’ll love ‘em.”

She gave a small sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.” She paused, something having caught her attention, then sniffed a couple of times. “...Is something burning?”

The dog tilted his head with a raised brow and confused frown, sniffed the air once himself, then went wide-eyed in realization. “Breakfast,” was all he said, before quickly ditching the bags onto the couch and running to the kitchen.

“Good lord,” she murmured, moving the bags aside so that she could take a seat next to the lagomorph. “How do you two manage not t’ burn the place down?”

“Who says we don’t?” Max replied with a grin - and it took Sybil a second to realize that he was kidding. Well, at least, partially kidding.

“Right,” was all that she had to say to that. She then eyed the feeding tiny rabbit in his grasp. “He’s so small…you’d hardly know that he wasn’t just a typical baby bunny.”

“Yeah. He’s got a huge appetite on ‘im, though! If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess that he was a bottomless pit in a very small package!”

“Seems like the tiny ones are,” she replied, then added teasingly, “I mean, look at you.”

“Hey, rude! I don’t ‘seem’ like a bottomless pit, I  _ am _ one. Get your facts straight, Syb.”

She laughed in amusement at his response, then looked back at the baby rabbit as he finished the dropper. “So, what’re their names?”

Max stopped in the middle of him setting the dropper aside, stayed like that for a moment or two, then resumed his action, giving a slightly awkward laugh. “We, uh - we haven’t actually really...stopped t’ think of any yet, t’ be honest.” He lifted up the rabbit, and brought him to his shoulder, lightly tapping against his back. “We were kinda thinkin’ that we’d talk about it while we were waitin’ in the waiting room.”

“Waiting room? Of, like, a hospital? Are they alright?”

“Oh, yeah - Mama Bosco checked ‘em out and said they’re a-ok! They just need t’ get checked out, just in case. Get up t’ date on some shots, maybe get their first cone if necessary. That’s all.”

“Well, that’s good.” One of the pups - the girl pup with the curved ears - had decided to wander over to her to inspect her, and so she leaned over and extended her hand to the pup to let her sniff her, to which the pup recoiled back a bit in surprise. “I would hate to hear that these poor guys were sick!”

The pup did sniff her hand briefly, before backing away from it. She then got a bit of a running jump and hopped onto the couch right in the space between her and Max, and looked at the woman with the messy fur on her back raising, a low growl coming from her throat, although her expression didn’t change.

While Sybil leaned away from her a bit in, surprised by the pup’s behaviour, Max shushed the pup, making her look over quickly at him. “Relax, baby - she’s not here t’ hurt anyone!” To emphasize this point to her, he removed one hand from the baby rabbit and used it to gently pet the fur on her back back down.

Although clearly still wary, the female pup decided to lie down, resting her head on her front paws.

“They’re a li’l protective of the li’l guy,” Max explained, then turned to look over at the smallest pup, and said, “That girl over there with the poofy ears? She wouldn’t have let go of him for anybody if she hadn’t been hungry. I think they just sorta get that he’s small and helpless, so they try t’ keep ‘im safe.”

“Aww! That’s so sweet of ‘em…”

“Yeah,” Max replied somewhat softly, a gentle smile appearing on his features without him even realizing. “Actually, the poofy-eared one’s even called him ‘wiwl bubby’ a couple o’ times. It’s pretty cute, actually.”

Sybil gave a small laugh. “Blame Sam for that, I’m guessing.”

“Of course!” Max replied, right before the dog in question suddenly came back with a plate with a fork laid on top of it.

“Saved it,” Sam said with a half proud smile, then proceeded to hand the plate to Max. “For you, my lovely, handsome husband.”

“Thanks, stud,” the lagomorph replied with a wink, removing his hand from the pup’s back to grab the plate. 

Her ears perked up at the sudden lack of contact, and, just as Max was grabbing the plate, she quickly sat up and barked loudly at him, nearly making him drop it. 

“God- scared the crap outta me,” he muttered. When she decided to  _ keep _ barking, much to his ears’ pain, he said, “Sam, take him, would ya’?” As the dog took him, he murmured, “You could probably put ‘im back in the crib, he seems like he’s out...” With a hand free again, he started patting the pup again, giving a slight huff as she laid back down again. “Pushy,” he said jokingly.

“Want me t’ make ya’ anything while you’re here?” Sam offered to Sybil, holding the tiny rabbit in his hands.

She shook her head. “Nah, I should probably get to work. I’m late enough as is, but I couldn’t help it - soon as I heard you had babies, I had to bring gifts.”

“You’re self-employed, Syb,” Sam pointed out in a teasing manner.

“I am, and as my own boss, I say I’m late and should get my rear-end moving.” She stood up from the couch and continued, “Besides, it seems like you two have quite a bit on your plate for the day, so I’ll let you get to it.”

“Alright. Take care.”

“And bring Georgie with ya’ next time!” Max chimed in as he was forcefully keeping the pup beside him from trying to eat the eggs off of his plate with his free hand, a piece of bacon at the end of his fork. “I’m sure these guys would love ‘im!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said as she opened the door. “Later, guys!” With that, she exited.

While Max continued to eat his breakfast while trying to prevent it from being consumed by his new daughter, with his other children beginning to gather by his feet, Sam headed to the bedroom with the baby rabbit to place him in the crib to allow him to rest while his parents ate breakfast. He carefully placed the little guy in the center of the crib, to which the small rabbit immediately resumed that ball-like position he liked to curl up into. Sam gave a gentle smile, then left the room.

He made his way into the kitchen, and went to pick up the plate that he had set aside for himself - but his ears then perked up upon hearing a knock on the door. “I got it,” he called to his husband, before putting the plate back down and making his way to the front door again.

Immediately after opening to find Papierwaite (with Yog-Soggoth, of course) standing on his front step, the dog found a basket being thrusted at his face, the sorcerer stating, “I was informed that the appropriate response to visiting new parents was to bring a gift, and so I’ve come with an offering.”

Max, who looked in the direction of the front door, raised a brow and twitched an ear. “Why the hell are ya’ sayin’ it like you’re learning what social etiquette is for the first time?”

“...Yeah, not sure if I trust your  _ ‘offering _ ’ after what happened last time,” Sam said to the man, raising an unimpressed brow himself.

Papierwaite’s brows furrowed, and he wagged an index finger. “May I remind you that  _ you _ were the one that released that reality-bending entity from that  _ projecteur _ , even though I explicitly warned you not to.”

“Well, that’s what you get for havin’ too much faith in us!” Max called as he attempted to free his bacon slice from the jaws of one of the vultures that were his kids.

Sam merely shook his head, and waved a dismissive hand. “How’d you even hear the news?” he questioned. “Mama Bosco talk t’ you? I know you two talk sometimes.”

Yog-Soggoth was the one to nod and respond, “That she did. And she did not fail to mention the young Psychic you had found.” He crossed his arms. “Shame that I had to learn of them from someone  _ else _ , Max.”

The lagomorph groaned loudly. “For the last time, you’re  _ not _ my Elder God grandfath-” He cut himself off with a yelp upon feeling tiny puppy teeth catch his wrist, making him lose his grip of his bacon slice, which created a good opportunity for the pup that had been attempting to steal it to take off with it.

The dog gave a small sigh through his nose, then took the basket. “Before I look inside this,” he said, “What is it?”

“Just some old thing I had lying around,” the man answered with his arms crossed, then, as Sam was opening the basket, added without prompting, “I made sure to rehome the benevolent spirit in it before bringing it here.” Sam looked at him pointedly. “I know how picky you are about those things.”

“...Well, bein’ a Poltergeist, I’m not particularly inclined t’ share my home with any other paranormal entities,” he muttered half-jokingly. He then proceeded to open up the basket the rest of the way, and saw that inside there was a wooden sculpture that had been crudely carved and vaguely resembled a sort of carousel. 

With a puzzled look, he removed it, placing the handle of the basket in the bend of his elbow as he held the item with both hands. At first, he was somewhat fascinated by it - after all, he could appreciate a bit of old-fashioned handiwork. But then when, out of curiosity, he took his index finger and spun the middle part that had what he assumed were meant to be horses, it emitted an ugly noise that was likely intended to be similar to a music box song, but instead just sounded like a frog had gotten caught between the rusted gears and was croaking every time they were turned. The sound had gotten everyone’s attention, even the pups who had been fighting over the piece of bacon they had snatched up.

Sam grimaced at the sound. “It’s, uh...it’s really good. Thanks for the generous gift, I’m sure they’ll love it.”

“‘Love it?’” Max said, feeling less inclined to be as polite about it. “I feel like that thing will kill me in my sleep.”

“I’m sure that it’s nothin’ a li’l, er... _ oiling _ can’t fix,” he said with little confidence. “I’ll just, uh...put it back in the basket.”

While he did that, Papierwaite finally took it upon himself to enter the home, waving a hand with green aura to shut it behind them. As he fully entered the living room, he stopped, and him and the Old God observed the pups that had resumed their tussling over the bacon. 

“I will be completely frank,” Yog-Soggoth said, “Neither of us were particularly expecting  _ this _ many. Perhaps three at most.”

“That’s not even all of ‘em,” Max commented. “There’s one more in the bedroom, fast asleep right now.”

“A rabbit,” Sam clarified, setting aside the basket with the other bags that Sybil had brought. “Pretty tiny one, too.”

“He’s an adorable little glutton!”

“I see,” Yog replied. “I do not suppose that would be the Psychic?”

“Actually, no,” Sam said, moving to stand beside the man, and pointing at the pup with the fur over his eyes. “It’s him.”

The Old God’s several eyes all turned to fixate on the pup that was being gestured to. “Has this been a previous era, I would have swiftly sensed his aura. There is nothing in the air that I’m familiar with, though…”

The lagomorph paused for a moment at that statement, then put his fork down on his plate, and answered seriously, “I sensed it.” The attention turned to him. “Twice in the facility. It led me right to him when we were lookin’ for him.”

“That is...interesting, that you could sense him but I cannot.”

“Well, uh-” He scratched the back of his neck. “It was  _ me _ that activated his powers in the first place.”

Yog-Soggoth recoiled somewhat in surprise, while his host blinked. “Really?” Papierwaite asked.

“Well- accordin’ t’ the asshole that had ‘em locked up. And he was, y’know, an  _ asshole _ , so I don’t know exactly how reliable his word was. But I figured - well, more like  _ theorized  _ \- where I’m not really a  _ typical _ Psychic, where I got, y’know, the whole eldritch abomination thing goin’ on, maybe it was enough t’...give his powers a startin’ boost?”

Yog hummed, placing a claw on his chin. “It  _ is _ entirely plausible, I suppose. Still, it is fascinating. When the Toys of Power had been destroyed, I had simply assumed that awakening the abilities in a Psychic would have been lost to the tides of time and change forever. But if this theory of yours is true, then...well, it is simply quite the marvel.”

“I simply question how this pup would ever utilize his abilities to their full potential without the aid of the toys to keep them concentrated,” Papierwaite said with a hand on his own chin.

Sam found his brows furrowing at that, and stepping from the sorcerer’s side to stand in front of him. “We are  _ not _ training him t’ use his powers.”

The man and the Old God merely looked at him, unfazed by his sudden defensiveness. “I never said such a thing.”

“I don’t care, I’m sayin’ it in general before anyone gets it in their head. The kid’s gone through enough in his short li’l life, and he doesn’t need t’ go through more.”

“God, you’re sexy when you get protective, king,” the lagomorph said, before proceeding to open up his mouth like a garbage can and simply dumping the rest of his breakfast into his mouth.

“Rest assured, Samuel,” Yog-Soggoth said with a slight shake of his head. “We are the very  _ last _ people who would be interested in doing anything that may be detrimental to him.” His gaze then lowered a touch, and he tilted his head. “Is there any particular reason you’re doing that, or.”

Sam raised a brow for a moment, then glanced down at himself to see that the Old God was referring to the glow that seeped through the fabric of his shirt, then looked back at him with a frown and furrowed brows, pointing a finger at him. “Don’t you change the subject.”

Yog raised a brow himself, then simply rolled his eyes. “As I was saying - if anything, we would be here to offer support. After all, you are practically like family.”

“The only one that keeps sayin’ that is you,” Max grumbled, leaning his head in one of his hands, his elbow propped on the arm of the couch.

“Then at least we’re on the same page,” Sam said to Yog-Soggoth. He then checked the nearest working clock, and said, “Now, sorry t’ cut this visit short, but we gotta start gettin’ these li’l guys ready for a doctor’s appointment.”

Max’s ears perked up, and he also glanced at the clock. At first he seemed puzzled, then gave an accepting shrug. “Guess it  _ is _ gonna take a bit t’ gather these guys up,” he admitted.

“Then we shall leave you to it,” Papierwaite said with a slight nod. “Do not be afraid to contact us if you need anything.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Sam replied. Shortly after that, the sorcerer left.

The lagomorph stood up from the couch with his plate in his hand. “What about your breakfast, Sam? It’s probably cold by now.”

“Ah, shoot, right.” He appeared thoughtful for a moment, then glanced at the pups that had seemingly worked out the bacon situation and were now finishing up on chomping away at the tiny shredded bacon pieces. Max looked at him, and the two exchanged a glance before Sam gave a shrug. “Better than it goin’ t’ waste, right?”

. . .

“Okay, so first off,” Max said as soon as they sat down in the semi-full waiting room, with the baby rabbit in his arms and the rest of the pups in Sam’s, “The fluffy one with his eyes covered? Teddy Bear.”

“You mean, like...the actual teddy bear?”

“Yeah! First name Teddy -  _ exactly _ Teddy, not short for Theodore - middle name Bear. ‘Cause he reminds me of a li’l teddy bear!”

Sam nodded in agreement, readjusting his arms to keep ahold of the squirming pups. “Yeah, alright, makes sense. It's cute - I like it!”

“Cool!” With a smile, he leaned back in his seat, gently stroking the small rabbit’s back with his thumb. “Alright, your turn.”

The dog’s ear raised, and he blinked. “Oh, we’re takin’ turns?”

“Well, I think it's only fair. I mean, six kids, name three each-”

“Ah, yeah, that makes sense,” he murmured. His expression then turned thoughtful as he looked between the pups, trying to decide which one to name. Eventually, his gaze fell right onto the one with the fluffy ears, who, like her siblings, was squirming and grumbling while doing so. “...Nina,” he said finally.

Max’s ear twitched, an amused smile twitching at the corners of his lips. “ _ ¿Niña? _ Like ‘girl’? ‘Cause that’s  _ reeeal _ clever, Sammothy,” he said sarcastically.

“No,  _ bobo _ , like Nina Simone! You know -  _ It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day _ \- that lady?”

The lagomorph merely snickered. “Wow, nerd,” he said, totally teasing. “Well, if we’re gonna talk about jazzy singers, then we  _ gotta _ include good ol’ Frank in the mix.” He then looked at the pups, his eyes going straight to the largest pup, that was gnawing on Sam’s wrist, but not so much to try and free himself so much as he seemed to be doing it to entertain himself. “I vote the big one!”

“Wasn’t Frank Sinatra short?”

“Hey, whose turn is it?”

The dog chuckled in amusement. “Alright, fine - Frank it is.” He audibly hummed as he looked again. Eventually, he looked at the pup with heterochromia, who had seemed resigned to his fate of being trapped in his dad’s arm, but also seemed to be observing his surroundings with a mild fascination. “We can call this one Cab.”

Max tilted his head to look at the pup, to which ‘Cab’ responded by looking over at him and tilting his head as well, as if mimicking the action. This put a smile on the lagomorph’s face. “I guess he kinda looks like a Cab,” he agreed. He straightened himself up again, then looked at the girl pup with the curved ears, who seemed to be attempting to nip at her slightly older sister’s ear, much to the latter’s annoyance. “ _ Hmmm _ ...Billie? No. Sarah? Ugh, no.”

“...Ella?” Sam offered.

“Eh. Doesn’t seem quite right either…” After another moment of thought, he lit right up. “Sophie!”

“Who’s Sophie?” Sam asked, raising a brow in confusion.

Deciding he was better of omitting the fact that the singer’s last name was ‘Milman’ since it was so close to ‘mailman’ and, both naturally and due to previous experiences, Sam was sort of  _ deterred _ by them, so to speak, Max simply shrugged and said, “Jazz singer born from Russia. Her songs are pretty sweet, though!”

“Maybe if I remember, I’ll check ‘er out.” He then looked at the small rabbit that was starting to move a bit in Max’s hands, which he supposed meant that the little guy was waking up from his umpteenth nap. “Guess that leaves the li’l cotton ball there-”

Before Sam had even finished his sentence, Max’s eyes had widened, and he brought the baby rabbit closer to his chest in an almost defensive manner, and said a little too loudly, “ _ No! _ ” This caused Sam to recoil in surprise, as well as everyone to suddenly look in their direction for a moment or two before deciding that they were better off not staring for too long. Max then gave an awkward chuckle, and stammered, “I, uh- I’m sorry, I-I know I said three and three, but I-I kinda forgot, I already sorta...thought of a name for this li’l guy.”

Sam blinked, then gave a warm smile. “Well, jeez, ya’ could’ve just so. Would’ve been a li’l less dramatic,” he teased. Had his arms not been full of puppies, he’d have playfully booped Max’s nose at the risk of losing a finger, more than likely. “What’d you have in mind, li’l buddy?”

“I, um...I wanted t’ name him MJ. As in Maximus Junior.” he said, his tone growing softer as he looked at the slightly squirming baby in his hands. “I wanted t’ name him after the strongest person I know…” He then proceeded to hold ‘MJ’ up to his face, with the baby rabbit’s little feet deciding to sprawl out when he did so. “‘Cause you’re just a hungry li’l fighter, ain’t ya’?” The tiny baby merely squeaked in response, and Max’s smile grew wider, and his tone softer as he murmured, “Yeah, you are.”

Sam’s expression had softened as soon as Max had mentioned the name of his great-grandfather and arguably most important role model in his life, his eyes scrunching slightly with his smile, finding Max’s idea of naming the youngest and smallest child after him nothing less than endearing. “Sounds perfect,” he said.

Shortly after he’d said that, the door to one of the doctor’s offices opened up, and a lady with a clipboard in her hand stood in the doorway, reading something off of it. “Sam Conejo-Barkley and Max Barkley-Conejo?” she asked, already sounding tired just by reading the names, then looked up to see them holding a total of six children, slumped her shoulders and muttered, “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Guess that’s our cue, Sam!” Max said, sounding peppy once again. He held the baby rabbit to his shoulder and practically hopped off of the chair and started heading towards the office.

Sam, on the other hand, upon attempting to stand up, found Cab suddenly squirming from his grasp and landing on the floor. “Oh no,” he said quietly, then, when he attempted to pick him back up, Sophie proceeded to do the same. “ _ Oh n- _ ”

. . .

After about five minutes spent just trying to wrangle the pups again, the doctor was finally shutting the door with a deep sigh and said, “Frankly, when I heard you had booked an appointment for shots and possibly cones, I just automatically guessed it was because of one of your ridiculously dangerous shenanigans gone awry.” She then turned to face them with all of their new children, and said with her arms crossed, “I was certainly not expecting to find out you had kids, let alone this many.”

“Hey, t’ be fair,” Sam said with a slight laugh, “We weren’t expectin’ it either!”

The doctor's name was Doctor Haynes - but she wasn’t actually a traditional doctor, but rather sort of a doctor-slash-veterinarian that had been specifically called to work at this particular hospital specifically  _ because _ of Sam and Max. To give a very brief explanation, because Sam and Max weren’t human, the hospital often needed to call up vets to assist them with whatever injury they had sustained during a case just to understand how to fix it. This eventually led to Haynes’ hiring - which she had been excited for at first, but, like many of the staff that had dealt with the infamous duo, grew tired of having them show up so often  _ very _ quickly.

She merely muttered, “I see,” clicked her pen and then set the clipboard aside. “So what’s the deal with these little guys then?”

“Well, as you said,” the dog replied, “These little guys seriously need to catch up on some shots, and we were advised that they might need t’ be shaved in some spots, and that they’d probably need the cone because of it-”

“Whoa, hang on -  _ shaved? _ ” she questioned, seeming genuinely baffled. Sam hummed in confirmation, and she shook her head. “Alright, c’mon, bring one of ‘em over.”

Since Sam was partially keeping the pups from wandering around too much, Max decided to hand off the baby rabbit to him before proceeding to pick up Teddy, bringing him over to the counter for her to inspect.

“Good lord, look at the state of their  _ fur! _ ” she exclaimed, looking appalled, before looking at Max and asking, “Who on Earth had ‘em last?”

“Someone who’s in jail,” the lagomorph replied casually.

“Well, thank God for that! I mean, whoever told you they’d need a shave is right - there’s no way I could just comb this out.”

“Good thing that’s why we’re here,” Sam said, using his foot to gently pull Sophie back closer to him.

Haynes turned to look at the small, white puffball that was seemingly sniffing Sam’s hand. “And what about that little guy?” she inquired, nodding towards him. “Anything up with him that you know of?”

He shook his head. “Other than that he’s a peanut rabbit, he checked out alright health-wise.”

“Well, it can be hard t’ tell when they’re that young sometimes. But hey, like you said - that’s why you’re here.” She gave a patient sigh through her nose, propping her hands on her hips and looking between Teddy and MJ. After a moment of thought, she clasped her hands together and said, “Okay - small baby first, then we’ll look over the other guys. We’ll shave them,  _ then _ we’ll give ‘em all their shots. It’ll be easier that way.”

“You’re the doc!” Max said pleasantly.

So the appointment proceeded as followed: MJ checked out okay - surprisingly healthy considering his conditions and the conditions he had been living in, which was always a relief to hear. Doctor Haynes, with some difficulty and a lot of assistance from the two fathers, managed to shave the clumped up fur off of the Mastiff pups, and, thankfully, all were clear of any reason to need the cone.

“I’d advise keeping them in pyjamas from time to time until their fur grows back a decent amount,” she stated as she prepared a needle, with Teddy back on the counter again. “They might get a little cold otherwise.”

Sam exchanged a look with Max. “We could do that no problem,” he said.

“I’m not sure about the ‘no problem’ part, but you do you,” she murmured, tapping the needle before moving back over to the pup on the counter. Despite the fact that he had fur over his eyes (which, when Haynes had attempted to move it back, he insisted on brushing it back down over his eyes), he seemed to look up with her with a sort of fear, slightly trembling.

Max noticed it at once, and immediately began petting his back with one hand while holding onto him gently with the other. He understood that, given the young pup’s previous experiences, he was likely far from a fan of needles - and he completely sympathized with his fear. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “Sweetie. Papá’s right here. It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Haynes said in a sweet, lighthearted voice to the pup, using a gloved hand to move any stray furs that were leaning towards the recently shaved spot. “This will take less than a second, okay?”

However, as soon as she was just moments away from even bringing the needle close to him to give him his shot, the pup -  _ very _ spontaneously and unexpectedly - was momentarily consumed with a blue light with white stripes dancing around his form in an almost hypnotic fashion. The very next moment, he was gone.

The doctor-slash-vet immediately found herself recoiling away in pure shock, clutching onto the counter behind her with her free hand, her eyes wide. “What the heck!?” she exclaimed, before looking between the lagomorph and dog and saying, “You two never told me he could do that!”

Sam and Max both looked just as surprised about it, and Sam proceeded to stammer, “We didn’t know. I-I-I mean, we  _ knew _ he  _ could _ do that, but we didn’t  _ know _ he  _ would- _ ”

Max, however, snapped out of his shock, and immediately turned to his husband and said, “You take care of the rest of these guys, alright? I’m gonna go find him.” Before Sam could even respond, the lagomorph was sprinting out of the room.

Recovering from her initial shock, she found herself removing herself from the counter with a deep sigh and muttering, “Nothing can ever be normal with you two.” Her voice was at normal volume when she then asked the dog, “They don’t  _ all _ do that, do they?”

Sam merely shrugged. “Not that either of us are aware of.”

“That’s not at all reassuring.”

Max panted as he ran through the halls of the hospital, saying to each person he passed by, “Have you seen a puppy wandering through here?” “Have you seen a puppy?” And so far, he received no luck in receiving any positive response that could confirm the whereabouts of his son.

Eventually, he found himself skidding to a halt in the center of an empty section of the hall that branched off to three other separate hallways, looking down each one to see no sign of anybody, and, more importantly, no sign of his psychic-powered baby son.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered as he frantically looked around, flapping his hands and bouncing on his feet with highly anxious energy. “How the hell do we manage t’ lose a  _ pup _ in a  _ predominantly human _ hospital _ - _ ” He forced himself to stay completely still, exhaling deeply in an attempt to calm his nerves. He wouldn’t find Teddy at this rate if he started panicking.

And if he couldn’t find him by looking all over around the hospital like a mother hen with its head cut off, then he could probably find him  _ through _ that psychic connection they supposedly had. And so with another deep breath, he just his eyes and simply tried to focus on- well, frankly, he just focused on Teddy himself. Not the feelings he had felt when he’d sensed Teddy, not focusing his abilities specifically to reach out to him - he just focused on the pup. His size, his colour, the parts of him that were fluffier than others-

And eventually he found that familiar tingling sensation going down his spine, and felt as if something was pulling him in its direction. When he opened his eyes, he looked as though he was looking to an unspecified spot in the distance, his vision just barely unfocused. And he tried to maintain that unfocused blur while he also actively tried not to bump into anything as he allowed that pull to move him forward, leading him down one of the halls, and eventually through another, and another.

Eventually, he found his vision clearing without his prompting, and after blinking his pink eyes a few times, he found himself standing right in front of a closet door, which, to his surprise, he had found wasn’t at all that far from the waiting room which he had so impulsively run right through and out of, automatically figuring that the pup had teleported somewhere further away. He blinked again as he eyed it for a moment, before his gaze fell onto the closet door’s handle. He reached for it, and cautiously opened it a crack as to not accidentally frighten the pup should he have been in there, and peered in.

Surely enough, Teddy was in there, hiding in the corner just behind a mop bucket, trembling harshly. With the slightest bit of light on his small face, Max could just manage to see a glimmer of the tear stains that trailed down his cheeks.

“Hey, baby,” he said quietly and calmly, proceeding to slowly open the door all the way. He didn’t enter the closet, because he didn’t want Teddy to feel incredibly cornered, so he simply got to his knees instead. The pup didn’t budge at first, but rather stared at him with an unhappy frown on his face. Max found his heart being squeezed by just how miserable he looked - the missing patches of fur, the frown, the tear stains - and he sighed, and murmured, “I’m sorry, Teddy...I figured you’d hate needles, but I didn’t- I didn’t really  _ think _ that- …”

As he continued to look at the frightened pup, he caught on that it didn’t really matter what he said, because even if he genuinely meant his apology, Teddy was still a young pup who likely had very little clue as to what he was saying or that he was sorry. So instead of saying anything further, he simply opened up his arms, inviting the pup in for a hug.

Without any further prompting, Teddy waddled on all fours towards him, and pressed his forehead against the lagomorph’s stomach. Max responded by gently picking him up and lifting him in his arms, supporting him with one arm while rubbing his back with the other while the pup set his chin on his shoulder. He placed a small kiss on the side of the pup’s head, and said softly, “It’s okay, Teddy Bear...Papá’s got you...I promise, I won’t let anything happen t’ ya’ in there, okay?”

He wasn’t sure if Teddy understood at all, but just judging by the way he felt his son lean his head right into his neck gave him at least some indication that the pup must have felt safe with him. And as much as he really didn’t wish to, he had no choice but to return him to the doctor’s office, so he only hoped that that feeling of safety would remain once he got back in there. And with that, he got off of his knees and lifted the baby up with him, and proceeded to make his way back to the doctor’s office.

. . .

Ultimately, the doctor’s visit had been successful in that they got everything for the pups that had needed done accomplished, but had also been filled with quite a lot of crying and growling and snapping at Doctor Haynes and, after the fact, grumpy or upset puppies who simply were  _ not _ happy with their fathers right now. The only two that were willing to even be  _ near _ Max in the backseat was Teddy and MJ, who didn’t even have all that much say. The others were all purposely sitting for laying down with their heads turned away from their lagomorph father.

“This feels terrible, Sam,” Max commented after a few minutes of them driving on the way back home, having picked up the pjs not too long before. This prompted the dog to look into the rearview mirror to look at the sight. “This feels worse than any other sort o’ rejection I’ve had t’ deal with in my life”

Sam’s eyes dropped from the mirror back to the road. “They certainly ain’t too happy.”

“They’re never gonna look at us ever again.”

“They’ll be all over us as soon as they want food.”

“ _ Saaam _ , I’m  _ serious! _ Look at ‘em, they look so betrayed!” He leaned his elbow on the window, and leaned his head in his hand, shaking his head with a frown. “They’re never gonna trust us again after this.”

Sam gave a patient sigh through his nose, understanding that, perhaps, he’d been a little too quick to dismiss it. “Look, I completely understand where you’re comin’ from, li’l buddy. But I don’t think it’s as black and white as you’re makin’ it, that’s all. Just wait and see - we’ll get these li’l guys all bundled up in some pretty jammies, make ‘em all nice and cozy, and before ya’ know it, they’ll be too busy tryin’ t’ tear it off themselves to even think about bein’ mad at you or me.”

Max gave a small sigh through his own nose. Had he not been genuinely concerned about the puppies distrusting them, he might have been more amused by the thought of them rolling around while trying to get their clothes off of themselves. “I sure hope you’re right...”

They eventually reached their home once again, and somewhat struggled to get some of them into the house what with how squirmy and growly they were the moment they were picked up. They got them all inside, however, and were soon placing them onto the floor. And while Max went to fetch a blanket for them to sit on after they seemed visibly bothered by the cold floor brushing against some of their furless spots, Sam began the process of trying to get these pyjamas on them.

To put it simply, the first half of this process was a gong show. These puppies were stubborn enough on their own, but combine that with their currently sour attitude, and these dads were dealing with a lot of these pups running off, squirming around, and, of course, biting them. Even Teddy, who’d seemed relatively forgiving on the doctor’s appointment afterwards, was giving Max a difficult time, and had made the lagomorph spend the last three minutes spinning in a circle with a pair of jammies in his hands by teleporting behind him on the couch or floor as soon as he got near.

“Sam, help me out here!” Max eventually said, stumbling and somewhat struggling to stay on his large feet. “I’m gettin’ dizzy!”

Sam, meanwhile, had Nina, Cab  _ and _ Frank (who’d only followed the former two’s lead because he wanted to join in on the fun) hanging from his arm by their teeth. “I’m a li’l busy here, li’l buddy!”

After Max stopped swaying, he shook his head, then placed his hands on his hips with a huff, tapping his foot. “This direct approach thing clearly isn’t working. We’re never gonna get these things on ‘em at this rate!”

“Well, I didn’t carefully select these adorable little pyjamas for them  _ not _ t’ wear ‘em!” He put a hand on his chin in thought (not the one attached to an arm of puppies hanging from it) and hummed. His gaze then went over to the plastic bags still left on the couch, and his ears perked up at once, an idea occurring to him. With his free hand, he pointed at it, and said, “Max, hand me somethin’ from one of those bags!”

Max did so, and the first thing he pulled out was a toy octopus. “Jeez, maybe don’t let Yog catch the kids playin’ with this - he might take it as a threat,” he joked before handing it to his husband.

As soon as Sam took it, he got to his knees, and shook the toy octopus so it made a rattling noise. Immediately, the three pups - as well as Sophie, biting on his pant leg, and Teddy - all perked up their ears, their eyes going immediately to the bright yellow toy. The three pups soon dislodged their teeth from their poor dog father’s arm and started sniffing at the toy. Sam rattled it again, which made Frank recoil in surprise, Cab’s eyes widen in curiosity, and Nina...well, she immediately lunged and grabbed it by one of the tentacles and yanked it out of the dog’s grasp, and began to shake it to get it to rattle. Eventually, after the toy rattled enough, Frank grabbed another tentacle, and launched into a game of tug o’ war with his sister.

“That’s it!” Sam said with a snap of his fingers. “Quick, Max, this is our chance - let’s get these jammies on ‘em while they’re preoccupied!”

“You got it, Sam!” Max replied cheerfully, grabbing Frank’s jammies and getting right to work.

And so it went like this: Sam and Max managed to get Nina and Frank’s pyjamas on (a light orange and white striped one for her, and a dark purple one for him) while they were playing tug o’ war, too distracted by the game to care. Cab had been given a rainbow-coloured Oball to sniff and bat at while they slipped on his (a green one decorated with what appeared to be cacti on it). Sam bribed Sophie with a diamond sword plush, which she hit the ground with while they put hers on (pink footie pyjamas, with a heart right on the chest). And Teddy had received a plush toy that could fit in one’s palm that, ironically enough, was a bear, and he was content with holding it while his dads got him in his jammies (light blue, with a hood).

Last but certainly not least had been MJ. For clarification, he’d had no need for pyjamas, because he had no problems with his short, white fur. However, Sam had found some very tiny blue pyjamas with mittens that he found absolutely  _ adorable _ , and he couldn’t  _ not _ buy them for him. So, when he pulled them out, he was eager to put them right on the little guy-

“Wait, Sam!” Max said, making the dog pause to look at him. “You know how he is - he’ll bite your fingers right off!”

“Ah, you’re right, li’l buddy. Here, take these.” He handed the pyjamas to his partner, then proceeded to dig through the bag. He eventually pulled out a single blue key specifically designed to be chewed on. He then - with some caution - brought it to the sightless baby rabbit’s mouth.

The kit only sniffed it once before biting onto it, feeling around with his small paws before grabbing onto the key that was easily larger than him, trying to chew on it with the impression that it was something to eat.

“There we go,” Sam said softly, a gentle smile appearing on his features. He then took the pyjamas back from Max, and started slipping them on the little guy. There were a few squeaks of protest from him, but otherwise seemed too preoccupied to care. Soon enough, he was all dressed up and cozy just like the rest of his siblings.

Max clasped his hands together with a tear in his eye and a wide smile on his face. “Doesn’t he look absolutely precious, Sam?”

“He sure does, li’l buddy,” Sam replied gently, placing a hand on his husband’s shoulder. He then proceeded to look over his shoulder at the other pups, and said, “And look at them.”

Upon the lagomorph looking, he found Frank plopped on his side with his eyes shut, and Teddy relaxing beside him. Cab was lying on the ground, and Nina and Sophie were both sitting, with the latter giving a long yawn.

“They all look awfully sleepy,” Max commented.

Sam looked at him, and said, “Honestly, I’m kinda tired myself.”

“Yeah, same. Nap time?”

“Nap time.”

Since the pups had refused to leave the blanket which their fathers had placed on the floor (Cab had literally clung to the blanket with his short claws, and lifting Frank felt like trying to lift a bag of potatoes with how passed out he was), Sam and Max simply decided to grab some pillows, and lay down with them. As soon as they were laid down on the floor, with MJ resting his head in Max’s dewlap, the few pups that were awake waddled over slowly before plopping right next to their dads stomachs, heaving deep, content sighs.

Sam found himself eyeing them with a thoughtful expression, however. “...Max?”

Max had his eyes shut, but poked one open to look at his partner. “Yeah, Sam?”

“...Did you ever think we’d...y’know...have a family like this? I mean- I know we had John and Chika, but...I dunno, this just feels different somehow.”

“I get what you mean,” he assured, before thinking for a moment himself, then shrugging. “I dunno. I guess I can’t really say I  _ always _ figured we would eventually, but I was pretty confident.”

“I just never really thought about it,” Sam admitted in a mumble. “Not even in a dismissive way, I just never really thought about bein’ a legit dad...I dunno. Guess it’s only startin’ t’ sink in now that this is, like...real. And it’s not the smoothest sailing, but-” He cracked a bit of a smile. “Feels kinda nice, y’know?”

The lagomorph simply responded by returning the smile, and patting his husband’s cheek with a paw. “You’re adorable. I love you.”

Sam gave an amused chuckle. “Love ya’ too, li’l buddy.” With that, the two proceeded to drift off into a pleasant afternoon nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12 will be posted on November 13th!


	12. Sunshine and Thunderstorms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pups experience sun - and rain - for the first time in their lives.

“Thanks again for comin’ over t’ help with the beds, Flint,” Sam said to his friend as the two were carrying the upper half to the bunk bed (Sam and Max having taken the time to at least take the two halves apart earlier for easier carrying) across the living room with the intention of placing it into a storage room downstairs. “I know you’re a busy man.”

“Well, not any busier than you guys are, Sam-o,” Flint replied, his eye drifting to the large puppy playpen that the two new dads had set up a week or so ago, the pups - who were dressed in clothes that had been provided by both Mama Bosco and Sybil - staring at them as they passed by. “I’m sure you two have had your hands full ever since ya’ got those li’l guys.”

“Yeah, got that right. They’ve been doin’ well though-”

“Watch your step,” Flint advised as Sam, who was walking backwards with the bunk bed half, approached the stairs.

The dog heeded his warning, and continued saying, “The tiny one finally opened up his eyes. His vision’s a li’l on the poor side, so we’re gonna have it checked out next week. Hasn’t slowed ‘im down any, though.”

The man cracked a slight smile. “Guessin’ that means he stills bites everything that moves.”

“Oh, not even just that anymore. Li’l guy’s all brave now that his eyes are open, so he’s started hoppin’ around now, too!”

“Ohoho, that’s gotta be fun!”

“An absolute blast,” he said sarcastically, before grunting quietly as the two placed the bunk bed next to its other half in the storage room. “Nah, seriously - it’s cute. It’s good t’ see him runnin’ around, doin’ good. I think he's startin’ t’ get a li’l bigger, too.”

“That's fantastic t’ hear!” Flint said pleasantly as the two walked back up the stairs. “And the other guys?”

“Better. Fur’s still growin’ back.” The two stopped at the top of the stairs when Sam leaned against the wall, crossing his arms as his gaze went over to the playpen, where the pups had decided to start playing with the toys in there instead. The only one who wasn't was Teddy, who was lying down in his overalls and T-shirt. “...Max is startin’ t’ get a li’l worried about Teddy, though.”

“Why’s tha-”

“Hey, Flint!” Max called as he started passing through the living room and towards the hall of the bedroom, a massive, heavy looking box being carried by him with absolutely no issue whatsoever.

“Hey, fuzzy pal!” Flint called back with a small wave. Once the lagomorph had passed through with the large box, he turned back to Sam again and resumed his question, “Why’s that?”

“Well, the other li’l guys have started chattin’ away a li’l more,” Sam explained, “Mostly mimicking what Max and I say or tryin’ t’ get our attention when they’re hungry, but Teddy-” He shook his head. “Teddy hasn’t said much of anything aside from the occasional whimper, ‘m afraid.”

“Dang...” He raised a brow at him, and asked, “Are you worried?”

Sam gave a shrug. “Nah, not really. I kinda already knew he didn’t speak much from the report. Actually, I told Max that too, but y’know how it goes once a parent gets worried about somethin’.”

“Of course.”

“And I mean,  _ I _ wasn’t all that chatty either when I was a puppy his age. Took a lot just t’ even get me t’ start yappin’. I just figure he’s the same way.”

The man nodded in understanding. “Makes sense. Do you think he’ll start speakin’ eventually?”

Sam simply shrugged again, and said, “If he does, cool. If he doesn't, that's cool too. We’ll figure it out. Teach ‘im sign if we gotta.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “In the meantime, though, we just keep an eye on him, stay privy to his cues - I mean, it’s certainly ain’t as if he won’t let us know when he needs somethin’, y’know?”

As Flint opened his mouth to reply, Sophie, who was standing on her two legs with her paws on the edge of the playpen, shouted, “ _ Fiwefwyyy! _ ”

The man admittedly bursted out into some laughter, while his dog pal looked at him with a raised brow and a smile, and said, “Speak of the Devil, I suppose.”

As he went over to the playpen, she made grabby hands at him, and babbled impatiently, “ _ Hungwyyy! _ ”

“I know, sweetie! I know.” He proceeded to bend over and pick her up.

“Cute,” Flint commented as he followed Sam into the kitchen. “Guessin’ he learned that from Max?”

“Same way they learned ‘li’l buddy’ from me.”

He proceeded to open the fridge with his one free hand, what with the pup with the wagging tail, and pulled out some baby food before shutting the fridge door with his hip and moving over to the high chair Mama Bosco had supplied as well.

“So, talk t’ me,” he eventually said, placing his daughter into the high chair, pulling out a chair at the table as to start feeding her. “What’s the word ‘bout the Grimmd case?”

“Well,” Flint said with a sigh, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. “Word is those two  _ employees _ of his will be servin’ quite a bit o’ time - The Pete guy’s got a handful compared t’ the amount that Crawford has.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised - he  _ kidnapped _ people,” Sam muttered as he brought a spoonful of the orange mush to the baby’s open mouth.

“And they, uh...don’t seem too particularly interested in lookin’ too much deeper into what happened in that holding cell. Must just see it as an easy out.”

“I mean, they are cops. Wouldn’t be the first time someone died in their custody and acted like it was some sort o’ accident.” He then spared a glance at him, and asked, “What about Kendra, though? Hear anything about her?”

Flint looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. “Haven’t, actually. Haven’t even heard anyone find her or anything.”

Sam’s brows furrowed a bit at that, a slight, confused frown appearing on his features. It really wasn’t as if though she had been in some obscure location - she died in an  _ alley _ . Surely someone should’ve found her by now, unless…

After that moment of pause, Sam simply just said, “I see.” After another brief flicker of his gaze back and forth, he simply gave a shrug. “Let’s hope that chapter of our lives is done and over with then, yeah?”

“I should think so.”

“Got the bed in the r-” Max called from the other room before cutting off abruptly, as if noticing something suddenly.

The dog couldn’t help but smile in amusement, feeling the lagomorph’s surprise from here - if only because he’d had the same feeling a couple times in just the past week - and proceeded to call, “In the kitchen, li’l buddy!”

Almost immediately after he said that, the sound of Max’s feet rapidly hitting the floor could be heard before he poked his head into the kitchen with his ears straightened. “Oh, there she is,” he said, much to both Sam and Flint’s amusement. As he entered the kitchen, he added, “Though she Houdini’d her way out of the playpen!”

“Nah, she just got hungry, that’s all,” Sam replied, feeding the pup another spoonful.

“Hey, don’t laugh,” Max told the man, who was laughing behind a closed fist. “Cab’s been findin’ ways t’ get out of that pen all week! Have any idea what it’s like tryin’ t’ make dinner and suddenly havin’ a puppy battin’ at your leg?”

“And that’s not includin’ the other guys,” Sam added. “Think he’s teachin’ ‘em in his escape artist ways.”

With a few more chuckles, Flint just shrugged, shaking his head. “I just think they’re adorable li’l rascals.”

“They sure are!”

Max had gone over to stand next to the high chair, bending his knees slightly to be at eye level with the baby. “Aww, is daddy gettin’ baby food all over your li’l face?” He wiped at her face with his thumb, earning some annoyed grumbles from Sophie as she tried to lean away from him.

“Not my fault she’s a messy eater,” the dog muttered half-jokingly.

After Max had wiped her a bit, Sophie shook her head and gave a sharp huff through her nose. She then proceeded to ignore the dog that was feeding her, and instead started reaching towards the doorway of the kitchen, waving her arms a bit as she made a  _ swish swish swish _ sound. “I think she wants her toy, Sam.”

“I think so too, li’l buddy.” He started getting up, intending to put the baby food away-

“Here, I’ll get that for ya’, babe!” Max said, taking the baby food from him.

“Oh- thanks!” While the lagomorph tended to that, he picked Sophie up from the high chair, to which the pup was still making that swishing noise excitedly. Sam couldn’t help but crack a smile as he exited the kitchen, and murmured, “Let’s get ya’ your sword, sweetie.”

As Max put the baby food in the fridge, Flint said, “Y’know, I feel like this is somethin’ you guys really needed.”

“What - a break from all the crazy cases we deal with on a daily basis that range from ‘mildly inconvenient’ to ‘global scale disaster’?” Max asked jokingly.

The man gave a small shrug and said sincerely, “Actually, yeah. I mean, that too - but I was mostly thinkin’ havin’ somethin’ nice t’ come home to that wasn’t just TV and some takeout.”

“ _ Hey _ , it was  _ not _ just all of that stuff!” Max said defensively, earning a raised brow. “...There was makin’ out, too.”

“Good for you,” he replied sarcastically, earning a chuckle from the lagomorph.

“Nah, I get what ya’ mean, though. I mean, I don’t think Sam and I could ever  _ not _ have a bit o’ chaos in our lives, but, y’know - domestic life isn’t as tame or boring as we’d thought it’d be.”

“I mean, t’ be fair, raisin’ kids is usually a different form of chaos of its own.” Pause. “No offense.”

“Oh, none taken! You’re absolutely right, and y’know what? It’s awesome, and I love it!”

Flint chuckled. “Glad t’ hear it, pal. So - the new bed. You guys gonna want any help with that?”

“Actually, Sam and I are probably gonna do that later. Sybil sorta invited us out t’ hang at the park with ‘er kid, and the bed just sorta  _ happened _ t’ arrive today, so-”

“Ah, I gotcha. That why they’re all dressed up?”

“Well, that, and they just look so darn adorable in ‘em, don’t they?”

“Absolutely. Well - if ya’ need any help with those beds later, you can always gimme a call.”

Max gave a nod with a grin. “Of course!”

“ _ Max, Cab got out again! _ ” Sam called from the living room.

. . .

Sybil shut the car door behind her after she had exited, and then proceeded to open the back door for her son, who had to reposition himself before hopping out, as to not accidentally hit a part of the car with his heel and risk denting it. As she shut the door behind him, there was the sound of a car approaching, and before she could even turn around to check and see, she heard Georgie say excitedly, “They’re here!”

She turned to see the DeSoto pulling up right in front of her own car, and gave a small smile - one hand holding Georgie’s and the other arm propped on the roof of her car - as she watched it idle for a moment before cutting off the engine. After the dog got out of the passenger side, she called to them, “Need any help with the kids?”

Sam looked over at her quickly, as if momentarily surprised by her talking to him, but called back, “Would be nice t’ have an extra pair o’ hands!”

The lady gave a nod, then looked down at her kid. “Wanna see the puppies?”

“Uh-huh!” Georgie replied cheerfully.

“Okay, but be careful! They’re only babies, alright?”

“Alright, mama!” With that, she proceeded to take her son by the hand and walk over to her friend’s car just as he was opening the back door to reveal Max sitting among a small pile of puppies, with MJ in his arms, the rabbit baby looking out the open car door with a sort of alertness in his eyes. Georgie almost seemed amazed by the small rabbit, with his mouth agape and his brows raised. “Whoa, he’s so small!”

“He sure is, kiddo!” Max replied. He scooched out of the backseat after Sybil and Sam had helped remove the other pups from the car. Whereas Sam was wearing his fairly standard buttoned shirt with a tie - with the only exception being a bag he had slung over his shoulder, which contained the pups’ toys - Max had decided to put on a lovely sundress just for this nice day at the park.

“We’re so glad you could invite us out for this li’l outing, Syb,” Sam said with a smile, the pups in his arms being oddly still, more focused on observing their surroundings than squirming from their father’s grasp.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all!” She replied, beginning to walk alongside them towards the park with the other two pups in her arms, with Max holding onto Georgie’s hand since her own were full. “I figured it would be a nice way for us and the kids to all hang out.”

“And perfect timin’, too!” Max chimed in. “Since MJ’s got his eyes open now.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. He seems very fascinated!” She glanced at the pups in her arms - Cab and Frank - who were also both looking around with curiosity visible on their little faces. “These guys seem pretty alert, too.”

“They must be pickin’ up all sorts of new sights and smells. Actually, Sam and I were discussin’ on the way here how we’re pretty sure the pups have never been outside before, so this should be a pretty interestin’ experience for ‘em.”

“How come they’ve never been outside before?” Georgie asked the lagomorph innocently, canting his head slightly to the side.

“Well,” Max started explaining, “Puppies tend t’ wander -  _ especially _ when they’re really small and young. And since there’s so many of ‘em, it’s been better t’ keep ‘em inside where they won’t crawl too far away. But now they’re big, so if they start wanderin’ away, we’ll catch ‘em!”

“Oh,” the little boy said, before smiling and saying, “I can keep an eye on them, Max! I’ll keep ‘em so that- that they won’t get lost in the woods or somethin’!”

Not bothering to correct the kid by stating there were no woods around, the lagomorph merely returned his smile, and momentarily released his hand to ruffle his hair. “Thanks a bunch, kiddo! That’ll be real helpful.”

The four eventually stopped once they were closer to the playground, though they remained a few feet away from it. The pups were still a little too small to play on it just yet, but that was precisely why Sam and Max had brought their toys in the first place. “Alright, li’l buddy,” Sam said, “Ready t’ see these guys’ reaction t’ walkin’ on grass for the first time?”

“I’m already prepared t’ weep, Sam.”

Without another moment of hesitation, Sam knelt down, and carefully lowered Nina, Sophie and Teddy until their back paws were touching the ground, to which Nina and Sophie almost appeared a little alarmed by the feeling. Nina even protested a bit, but as soon as her dog father released his grip on her and her other two siblings, she went quiet again. While Sam allowed them a moment to adjust, he took Cab and Frank from Sybil and did the same thing with them. Frank practically sprung away from Sam’s grip, eager to start sniffing at the grass, while Cab decided to simply plop down and stare at the blades of grass before him. Sam remained crouched, so that if one of them started getting upset, he could just quickly scoop ‘em up, but otherwise he sat back and observed, with his husband standing just behind him with MJ - who was tilting his head while staring at his siblings - still in his arms.

After some time spent either looking at the grass or sniffing it, they noticed Sophie’s tail beginning to wag, and, with her pretty pink dress on, she proceeded to start rolling around in the grass, sticking her tongue out as she gave a big ol’ smile. Nina decided to lay down in the grass, and shut her eyes, looking pretty content at feeling the warmth of the sun on her, and Teddy promptly decided to join her. Frank had apparently decided to start attempting to eat the grass, and Cab, also wagging his tail, play bowed at Sophie, and the two engaged in play. And by ‘engaged in play’, what that actually meant is that they both started spinning in circles in opposite directions.

Sybil couldn’t help but laugh at seeing them, while Max both smiled widely in amusement and joy, placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder while the dog attempted to pry Frank off of the grass and get him to stop eating it. “I think they’re having plenty of fun already,” the lady commented.

“They sure do,” Sam replied, pulling Frank closer to him before letting him go again. Frank tried to eat the grass again, and Sam stopped him again. The large pup didn’t seem annoyed, though, and when Sam let go of him this time, he actually turned around and play bowed at his dad, spun twice, then play bowed again.

“Why do they spin like that?” Georgie asked.

“It’s ‘cause they wanna play,” Sam answered, removing the bag from his shoulder and sliding it off, placing it on the ground. “When they get really excited, they’ll spin around because they don’t know what else t’ do, they’re so excited.”

“It’s sorta like when I flap my hands or start bouncin’ t’ stim,” Max added.

“Ohh,” Georgie said. “They must get pretty dizzy!”

“I imagine they do.” The dog proceeded to dig through the bag, and pulled out a squeaky toy. He squeaked it twice, which got all of the pups’ attention, their ears perking forward. He tossed it at Frank, but before the pup could catch it, Teddy - who had gotten up a little bit before Sam had even gotten the toy out of the bag - intervened, catching it himself.

“ _ Nooo! _ ” Frank protested as his slightly younger sibling started taking off with the squeaky toy, and then started yapping as he promptly pursued his brother. Sophie, after watching them for a second or two, soon also began barking and trying to get the toy, while Cab, now without a partner to play with, decided to sit and stare at the grass again. Sam decided to throw him a bone - a rope bone that was. The one blue-eyed pup immediately took to it, and started swinging it around. When he accidentally whacked Nina with it, she barked at him angrily once, before trying to grab the rope bone from him, starting up a game of tug o’ war.

Sam’s ear twitched back upon hearing a whine, and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw the baby rabbit in his husband’s arms looking mildly perturbed, and waving his arms towards the ground. “I think he wants t’ join his siblings, li’l buddy.”

Max tilted his head slightly. “Ya’ think that he can, Sam?”

“I think so. I can certainly keep an eye on him in any case, make sure none of ‘em accidentally topple him over.”

“Alright. If ya’ say so.” Max would have been glad to hand off MJ to the dog, but ever since the little guy had opened his eyes, he’d found Sam to be a touch intimidating no thanks to his large size. So instead, Max stepped beside Sam and did what he had done; crouching and lowering the baby rabbit until all four of his feet were on the ground.

MJ’s whines had ceased as soon as his little feet touched the grass, and his perturbed expression vanished, turning into a blank stare instead. He didn’t appear super thrilled to be on the grass now that he was on it, but he didn’t appear bothered by it, either. He stared at the ground, then stared at his other siblings as they played, but paid no mind to them. Eventually, he just started hopping along in the grass, seemingly starting to explore.

After some time spent watching the pups having fun in the grass, Georgie, who was holding his mother’s hand again, looked over at the playground, looked up at her and pointed at it, and said, “Mama, I wanna go play on the slide.”

She looked down at him. “You wanna play on the slide?” He nodded. “Knock yourself out, kiddo.” He smiled at her, and proceeded to run towards the playground. She called after him, “Try not to get stuck on anything!”

“I won’t!” he called back.

Sybil gave an amused smile and sigh through her nose, before deciding to take a seat next to Sam as well. “So, Miss Pandemik,” Sam said lightheartedly, moving out of his crouch and simply sitting on the grass, keeping an eye on the kids as he spoke. “What’s been new and exciting in your life lately?”

She merely gave a shrug, and replied, “This is it. Work’s been goin’ alright-”

“Which part of work?” he asked teasingly, and smiling a little more when she actually laughed.

“Well, psychology’s been going alright. Mostly finding work in IT right now.”

“How many idiots do y’ get per day?” Max asked, mostly joking. Mostly.

“Let’s just say if I had a dollar for every ‘where’s the any key’ question I got, I’d be able to afford a weekend-long vacation out of the city at this point.”

“Well, I should  _ hope _ you’re makin’ more than a dollar per person,” Sam said, her point sort of flying over his head. No one bothered to correct him. “And how’s the kid? He been doin’ alright in school?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s doin’ fine. I think he’s struggling with the ‘keeping still and doing his work’ thing, but let’s be honest, what kid hasn’t dealt with that?”

“I hear that!” Max chimed in.

“And math. He’s definitely been having a hard time with that. But he doesn’t dislike it, which is more than I could say for myself when I was going through elementary school, so.”

“No one’s givin’ him a hard time or anything,” Sam inquired, “Are they?”

“Oh, no. I mean, he hasn’t...really made that many friends, but he hasn’t been picked on or anything. I would say ‘as far as I know’, but I know he’d tell me if something was up.”

The dog nodded in understanding. “Well, if he’s lookin’ t’ make some friends, y’know we can always help ‘im out.”

“Yeah,” Max said, “We know a couple o’ kids who probably wouldn’t mind makin’ new friends! Well, one of ‘em, anyway - other one may pretend she doesn’t need friends, but.” He gave a shrug, his sharp-toothed smile returning.

Sybil returned the smile. “That’s very kind of you both, but I think right now he’s happy enough t’ have  _ you _ two as his best friends.”

“Aww!” the lagomorph exclaimed, placing a hand over his chest. “We’re his best friends?”

She gave a light scoff, rolling her eyes and shaking her head lightheartedly. “You react like this every time I tell you.”

“Well, it’s a pleasant surprise every time!” Sam chimed in.

Max was about to say something, but the sound of chomping made his ear twitch, and he found his gaze going over towards MJ, who - if the slight yellow tint of his fur was any indication - appeared to have eaten a dandelion right off of the stem. The other two had noticed the lagomorph’s head turned, and followed his gaze just in time to see the baby rabbit stop chewing, wiggle his nose, and suddenly leap into the air, as if suddenly overcome with excitement.

“Should he be eatin’ that?” Sam queried, frowning slightly and raising a brow.

“He’s a  _ rabbit _ , Sam.”

“I know, but that’s still...gotta be kinda dirty, right?”

“Well, I eat things from the ground all the time, and look at me!” He put his hands on his side, giving a big ol’ grin.

Sam and Sybil exchanged a doubtful look, before the dog looked at him and said, “I don’t think your wonderful, sideways logic should be applied to a baby, Max.”

The lagomorph’s grin faltered for a moment, and he gave a light huff. “ _ Fiiine _ , I’ll go grab him. But if he bites me, I’m bitin’  _ you _ .”

“Love ya’ too, li’l buddy,” the dog said, smiling at his husband as he got up from his spot and walked over towards the small rabbit. While he attempted to catch the now binkying baby bunny, Sam decided to ask Sybil, “Uh - hey.” She looked at him. “I’ve also been meanin’ t’ ask this - and you don’t have t’ answer, but...how’s the ex situation? I know he got out a bit ago, but you haven’t really said anything so I assumed things were at least...okay, but-”

“Well,” she said with a sigh, “There’s not really much  _ to _ talk about. Nothin’s changed in my life at all.”

“That mean he hasn’t tried t’ talk t’ ya’?”

“Oh, he has. I’ve just been ignoring him. And he’s lucky I’m  _ just _ doing that considering last time we spoke, I threatened to put a restraining order on him if he came anywhere near me or Georgie.”

“Good for you,” Sam said, placing a hand on her back for a moment before retracting it again. “Guy never deserved ya’ anyway.”

She nodded. “Y’know, I was always sort of scared about Georgie asking about him, but I’ve been fairly honest about his dad - well, as honest as I can be with a kid as young as him - and-” She shrugged. “He really doesn’t seem too bothered by it. As far as he’s concerned, I’m his mom and Abe’s just sort of...Abe, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get it-”

“And good riddance!” Max said as he returned with a squirming, whining MJ with yellow dust around his mouth in his arms. “Lord knows the kid’s got the best mom in the darn world without  _ that _ guy comin’ in and muckin’ it all up!”

The lady couldn’t help but give a small life as the lagomorph sat back down again, placing the tiny rabbit in his lap, which seemed to be enough to stop his whines. “God,” she said. “What would I do without supportive friends like you guys?”

“Well, for one, you probably wouldn’t have gotten with that guy in the first place, ironically enough,” Max admitted, gently stroking his son’s head with a finger, “But then again, a lot of cool things wouldn’t happen in your life too!”

“Well, y’know what - I’d take marrying that man any day so long as it meant keeping you guys around.” Pause. “Please don’t ever put that to the test.”

“ _ Ohoho _ , trust us,” Sam said, “We would never-”

Without any sort of warning, the rope bone suddenly went flying right at Sam’s head, making his head snap up right before he fell onto his back, knocked out. While Max and Sybil looked down at him with surprised looks on their faces, all the pups had stopped playing and stared in the direction of their dog dad. Cab, who had been partially responsible for sending the rope bone flying, mumbled, “Oopsie.”

After both him and the lady blinked a few times, he looked up at Sybil, and said jokingly, “Well, least if he gets amnesia again, now I know how t’ fix it!”

. . .

It was a fairly cloudy evening, but despite the cold temperatures, the pups had seemed to be insistent on wanting to go outside - and considering how much fun they’d had their first time outside only a mere few days ago, who were Sam and Max to deny them? So, there the two parents sat on the back porch while their pups played in the backyard, whether it be with their toys or each other or even just with their very surroundings, with all of them dressed up in pretty casual clothes.

MJ had been, once again, attempting to eat some random flower in the backyard, and while Sam knew that it was harmless, he still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of the little guy eating stuff straight out of the ground. And that wasn’t even considering his sensitive tummy! So, naturally, he’d gotten up and carefully approached MJ, saying gently, “Come on, bud - stop tryin’ t’ eat the plants.”

He didn’t even need to get close to MJ, however. As soon as he spoke, however, the small rabbit turned around quickly, looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes, before proceeding to take off right past him, going as fast as his little legs could take him, right towards Max.

When MJ had done this the first time since opening his eyes, Sam had, admittedly, nearly been in tears at seeing him react so fearfully towards him. Now, all he could really do was sigh, turn to face Max and take a seat on the grass, leaning back on his hands. “I don’t think he likes me, Max,” Sam said, sounding a little defeated.

“Oh, don’t say that!” Max replied, scooping up the startled baby in his arms, allowing him to bury his face in his dewlap. “He’s just a li’l intimidated by your large, handsome figure!” The dog merely responded by canting his head, his expression doubtful. “He’s tinier than your  _ hand _ , Sam. Ya’ can’t blame the li’l guy for bein’ a li’l scared!”

“‘M not blamin’ him,” Sam muttered under his breath.

“Trust me,” the lagomorph continued, “One mornin’, you’ll wake up, and he’ll be all over ya’! Ya’ just gotta give him some time, that’s all.”

“I guess.”

While they were having this discussion, Frank was busy observing a ladybug that had landed on a nearby blade of grass with all the focus in the world, completely and utterly fascinated by it. That was until a random drop of water had landed right on the top of his muzzle, making him flinch and blink, before he returned to staring at the ladybug. Then a water droplet landed right on the blade of grass the ladybug sat on, and it flew away.

Another drop of water landed on Max’s head right between his ears, making them twitch before looking up with a surprised look. Sam, curious to see what he was looking at, decided to look up as well, only to receive a water droplet right in the eye. After briefly shaking his head, he looked up again, and muttered, “Uh oh.”

In a matter of seconds after he’d said that, rain began to come pouring down on the whole family. While Frank and Teddy both immediately cringed at the sudden wet, with Frank whining quietly, Nina and Sophie had immediately started trying to attack the rain, with Nina biting at the rapidly oncoming droplets, and Sophie trying to jump up to get them.

Cab, however, had started whimpering the instant the rain soaked his fur and his clothes, and started running towards the porch. And before Sam could say “Wait, no, Cab-!” to try and stop him, the small boy - with his green and white shirt - was ducking right under the porch where all the dirt was.

Sam promptly got to his knees and looked to see the shivering pup underneath there. “Cab, c’mon out from under there, buddy!” The pup did not budge at all.

“Here, Sam,” Max said, getting the dog’s attention, “Take MJ and get the other pups inside - I’ll grab ‘im.”

Sam nodded, and took the baby rabbit - who was too busy being upset about the rain to care about being afraid of the dog - and quickly headed towards the door while his husband began getting underneath the back porch. Sam stopped just short of the door to turn and call over the heavy pattering of the rain, “Kids, c’mon!”

Without any hesitation, Teddy and Frank started tearing towards the back porch on all fours (with Frank nearly slipping on the already wet step on the way up). When Nina and Sophie were clearly too preoccupied trying to ‘eat’ the rain, he quietly groaned under his breath. He quickly opened the door to allow Frank and Teddy to come inside as well as bring MJ inside, and got them situated on the blanket in the living room, muttering for them to stay put before running back out to grab Nina and Sophie.

While Sam struggled to get the two squirming pups back inside (Sophie even clung to the doorway, the little rascal), Max was wiggling his way back out from underneath the porch with Cab in his arms, the both of them covered in dirt. The lagomorph, whose ears were flopping against the back of his head thanks to the rain, heaved a gentle sigh as the smaller pup held onto him and shut his eyes.

“C’mon, li’l one,” Max murmured, making his way towards the back door shortly after Sam had managed to finally get Nina and Sophie in. “Let’s get you inside with the others.”

After some time spent washing off the pups that had gotten dirt and muck on themselves - as well as Max, since there was no way he could let his white fur get stuck with all that brown mud on him - and drying them off and getting them in their cozy pyjamas, Sam and Max were now lounged on the couch watching TV, with MJ in Max’s arms and the pups on the large blanket on the living room floor. The dog had changed into pyjamas himself since his actual clothes had gotten soaked and, by that point, it became clear judging by the dark, wet outside, with winds blowing through the trees and audible through the walls of the house, that he wasn’t going to be going anywhere for the rest of the night anyway.

The pups had been mostly content to play with their toys when they weren’t looking around, somewhat alarmed, whenever the wind blew against the house. However, as the rain and wind soon began to develop into a storm within the past few hours, the pups began to grow increasingly more alarmed, refusing to play with their toys and beginning to start huddling together, looking towards the ceiling in fear-

And then finally came the first strike of lightning and the first boom of thunder, and suddenly the house erupted into a wave of chaos and noise. Sam had, admittedly, been startled by the thunder and lightning, which had caused him to involuntarily yelp in surprise. The puppies, however, had immediately whimpered loudly and howled at the top of their lungs as they scampered over to their dads, trying to climb onto them, or onto the couch-

“Whoa, whoa, hang on, babies-!” Max tried to tell them, with a crying MJ burying his face in his dewlap, his nub-like ears pinned back and his tiny body shaking. “Be careful of your brother-”

When the pups had gotten onto the couch next to Max, thought, they didn’t attempt to climb him - they merely buried their faces in the couch beside him. Even the pups that had decided to climb onto Sam’s lap had been more keen on trying to bury themselves between the cushions than actually cling onto him.

“I, uh-” Sam said, having to swallow. “I think it’s suffice t’ say they’re scared of the storm, li’l buddy.”

“Yeah, ya’  _ think? _ ” He placed his free hand on Teddy’s back in an attempt to console him. The pup only responded by trying to bury his face further in.

There was another loud  _ boom _ of thunder, and Sam found that he was clutching his chest, feeling his heart pound within it, his breathing a little quickened. Oh, to think there was a time he would have floated right out of his body because of thunder and lightning - and had not the Greek God of Thunder (Good lord, what irony) bound his spirit to his body, he probably  _ still _ would have. He had never been fond of storms, even  _ before _ they reminded him of unpleasant things such as the loud  _ crash _ of a ship crashing into a robot, and the blinding white light that followed. Thunderstorms had always, and, for the longest time he thought,  _ would _ always be one of the few things that could put the fear of God in him.

What snapped him out of his fear-stricken daze, however, was when he heard the cries of Frank and Sophie, muffled only by them trying to shove their faces into the cushions to shield themselves from the storm. And it had been enough for him to look at his husband and say, “We need t’ move ‘em t’ the bed.”

Max didn’t hesitate to nod in agreement, and say, “Definitely.”

And so, with gentle words and even gentler handling of these spooked puppies, the two parents got them to their bedroom with little difficulty - if anything, they were more than eager to cling to their dads’ necks when given the opportunity and the only difficulty was getting them to let go for a moment - and placed them on the new bed that had been placed in there and set up shortly after their time at the park. And Sam did pretty much what he always did whenever there was a storm happening, even as an adult - he shut the blinds so that the lightning wouldn’t get in, and he pulled the blanket over himself and his family to lessen the noise of the thunder.

The crying of Sophie, Frank and MJ, along with the whimpering and howling of the other pups was made louder because of the blanket over them, and Max’s ears pressed tightly against the back of his head in an attempt to shield the noise from his ear drums since, well, there was admittedly a part of this that was  _ physically _ painful to hear within such close proximity. “Sam-” he started saying.

The dog, however, was already hushing the pups, to which they were beginning to actually respond to by quieting down a little bit. Once they had quieted down enough, Sam said quietly, “Y’see? There’s nothin’ t’ be scared of.” The pups’ cries and howls were now reduced to just-barely-there whimpers, and as the blue, soft glow of Sam’s chest began to illuminate the underneath of the blanket, casting a light to break through the dark, some of them began to crawl over towards their dog father. In turn, Sam placed an arm over them, holding them close to him, and continued to murmur gently, “It’s just a bunch o’ noise and light. Once ya’ get rid of that, then...well, it’s not much of anything, is it?”

Of course, the pups couldn’t respond to his words - but they did seem to understand them to some degree, because they no longer cried or whimpered, and although they were still clearly on edge, they also pressed themselves close to Sam and his light, obviously finding some form of comfort in it.

As Sam ran a careful hand through their fur, wiping away the tears on his son and daughter’s cheeks, Max couldn’t help but look at his husband with a gentle smile and all the endearment in the world. Sam eventually caught his gaze, and quietly asked, “What?”

“You’re a really great dad, y’know that?”

The dog gave a small chuckle, looking back down at the babies that laid beside him. “...Thanks, li’l buddy.” He brushed one of Cab’s ears out of his face, earning a small grumble but not much else. His gaze then drifted over to MJ, who had quieted down as well, and was now resting against Max’s chest. “...Guess I see why he’s a li’l freaked out by me now.”

“How so?”

“Well, look at these guys. They’re so scared by this storm - and, I mean, I am too, but I at least  _ know _ what it is. But these guys have no clue! They just know that it’s loud and bright, and they don’t like it. And...maybe that’s just how it is with MJ. He doesn’t know what I am, he just knows that I’m way bigger than him, and that scares him.”

The lagomorph gave a lighthearted huff, and said teasingly, “Well,  _ I _ could have told you  _ that _ , Sam. Actually, I think I  _ have _ been tellin’ you that ever since he’s opened his eyes, but go off.”

Sam laughed at that a little. “You know me, Max - always learnin’ the lesson the hard way.”

Max reached a hand to gently boop his husband’s nose. “Whatever gets it through that big, fantastic head o’ yours, babe.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sam replied teasingly, earning a giggle from the lagomorph. He then glanced down at the pups, who were now snoring softly, their eyes shut. “Look at ‘em,” he said quietly, “Passed out, just like that. You’d never know they were cryin’ over a storm.”

“Asleep like li’l angels…”

“Guess we may as well call it a night too, li’l buddy. I doubt this storm’s gonna get any better within the next hour.”

“God, we really are becomin’ old men, goin’ t’ bed at- whatizzit, nine? Ten o’clock?”

“You say that as if we haven’t done that before.”

“Yeah, but at least before it’d be because we had already been stayin’ up all day and decided t’ take a nap and ended up fallin’ asleep instead!”

“You crack me up, li’l buddy.” With that, the dog let out a decent sized yawn, and murmured, “G’night, Max.”

“Night, Firefly.”

. . .

Eventually, the storm had passed along with the night, and the sunlight of the peaceful morning shined through the cracks of the closed blinds. As the family had tossed and turned throughout the night, the blanket had shifted from over their heads to halfway down the bed, no longer needed for protecting the family’s sensitive ears from the noise.

The first to wake out of all of them had been MJ, his round, curious eyes blinking upon waking. He had been curled up by his Papá in the usual way he had been - looking more like an excessively large dollop of whipped cream than a baby rabbit - while his Papá snored next to him (which was probably part of the reason he’d awoken, to be fair).

He yawned, the yawn being so big that it made his little body tremble, before glancing at his lagomorph father and getting to his hands and feet, making a humming noise in the back of his throat as he patted the snoozing lagomorph’s stomach. The only reaction he received was a small snort before Max turned around, his back facing the baby rabbit. MJ repeated the noise he’d just made, though sounding a little more annoyed this time. So much for trying to get  _ his _ attention.

The little rabbit then hopped in a small circle, and turned to Sam. For clarification, MJ had poor vision when he’d first opened his eyes - so the dog, to him, typically looked like nothing more than a greenish-brown blur that towered over him and frightened him to no end. However, on this morning, what with Sam laying his head on the pillow, snoring gently, his mouth slightly open, and generally more close to MJ’s eye level...well, he didn’t appear  _ quite _ as scary.

The small nubs that were his ears twitched, as did his little nose, as he continued to stare at the dog, and proceeded to do something he hadn’t done since he had opened his eyes - he decided to hop across the bed and approach the sleeping dog.

He admittedly had to climb the pillow a little bit to reach Sam’s face, and when he did, he continued to stare at him, his nose twitching and caution lining his body. Once he was sure that the other wasn’t going to awaken, however, he decided to lie down on his side right at the end of the dog’s muzzle. There was something...less intimidating about looking at him from this angle. One would think that to a little guy his size, the fact that Sam’s face was so far from his nose would be a little scarier, but actually it just looked...sort of goofy.

As MJ continued to stare at Sam, he seemed to remember that he had gone over to him in the first place simply to seek attention and, although still wary of the dog, he found himself placing his paw right on the dog’s nose and gently patting it.

Now, Sam didn’t wake up to very much - he had the ability to sleep through a bomb going off in the house on a good day - but something about the gentle pat on his nose had prompted his eyelids to twitch, giving a small  _ hrm _ before fluttering his eyes open. At first his eyes were heavy with sleep, and then a look of confusion came over them upon seeing white through the tired blur of his vision. And then when his vision cleared and he saw his tiny son at the end of his muzzle, his eyes blinked several times, wide in surprise, and he froze, staying completely still, and his heart thudded in his chest.

_Holy_ _crap_ , he thought. _MJ’s holding my face._

He didn’t dare budge a muscle at first, for he was scared that if he did, he would scare off the tiny rabbit, and he certainly didn’t want  _ that _ at all. But he didn’t particularly know... _ what _ to do. Should he say something to the li’l guy? Should he just shut his eyes and leave him be? No, there must have been some reason he’d patted his muzzle in the first place, right? Did he just want attention? Did he need something? ...Was he hungry? There were a million questions in his mind, and the only answer he got from the small rabbit to any of them was a blank stare.

Eventually, after just eyeing him for a good couple of minutes, mentally trying to contemplate what it was he should do, he simply decided to move his face slightly, and place a small kiss on the rabbit’s little head.

The response he got to him doing that was the tiny rabbit scrunching up his face, looking both taken off-guard and disgusted by the affection, and he removed his paws from his father’s face and sat up on his hind legs, and proceeded to use his front paws to clean his face.

Sam gave a lighthearted huff, and murmured jokingly, “Jeez, ungrateful much.” Once the tiny rabbit had stopped cleaning his face, he gave a huff of his own, stomping his hind legs and giving an annoyed look at Sam, and then turned and started hopping away. “Hey, wait, no, where are you going-”

MJ had hopped back over to his lagomorph father, and buried his face right into his lower back, once again resuming his impersonation of mochi. The dog could only give an amused breath through his nose, shaking his head slightly before shutting his eyes once again.

Only to feel another pat on his nose a few minutes later.

He gave a small chuckle as he cracked open an eye to see MJ at his nose again, patting it a little more insistently and giving a quiet whine. Guess the little guy  _ had _ been hungry after all.

“Okay, alright,” he said quietly, reaching a hand up to carefully grab ahold of him. “Alright, I’ll get ya’ some food, bud.”

However, as he started lifting up the small rabbit and sitting up, the pups that laid down between him and his husband all - in almost  _ perfect _ sync - sat up, fully alert, and staring right at Sam. At first Sam stared right back, a little surprised but otherwise unbothered, but then he noticed Nina’s muzzle scrunch up a bit, a low growl in her throat.

“Oh no-” he said, before putting a finger to his lips, trying to shush her.

The small pup only responded by letting out a loud  _ yap! _ that, in turn, made Max awaken with a yelp of surprise, tumbling right off of the bed and onto the floor. This immediately made the pups look over at him, then all get up to stand at the edge of the bed and look over it, a couple of them whimpering in worry, before they backed up upon the lagomorph extending a hand and placing it on the bed to pull himself up with a groan.

Sam could only give a nervous chuckle, and said, “Uh- mornin’, Max.”

“Mmmgh, mornin’, Sam,” Max replied groggily, rubbing a temple with his hand before Sophie decided to start licking his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be posted November 20th!


	13. Visiting the Grandparents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pups go to visit Sam's parents for the first time.

It was a pleasant Sunday morning - about a couple of weeks or so since the pups’ first storm had happened - and the pups were all playing with their toys in the living room while Sam was in the bedroom packing up their things into a couple of suitcases, and Max was feeding MJ a strawberry that was practically half the size of his torso. The little guy, while still very much tiny, was now just slightly bigger than he had been when they had first gotten him, and in the past while, Max had started letting him eat some bits of fruits and veggies. Once he had started doing that, MJ said what Sam and Max had agreed to declare as his first words:

“Num num num.”

“Is it nummy, baby?” Max asked pleasantly, a joyous smile on his face at hearing the absolutely adorable murmurs coming from the baby rabbit, along with the way he always seemed to kick his feet happily whenever he ate something that he liked.

In response, MJ merely repeated what he’d said with the same amount of delight: “Num num num.”

Max wiped at his face with a thumb, murmuring, “Oh, you got all this strawberry juice on your face now, though, you messy li’l thing-” Interrupting him was a knock at the door, which made his ears perk up attentively, and caused the pups to also suddenly become alert, with Nina instinctively barking. “ _ Shh! _ ” Max said sharply to her, putting a finger to his lips. She merely responded with a grumble. The lagomorph proceeded to call out, “Sam, I gotta get the door, can ya’ watch MJ for a sec?”

As soon as his husband called to him, Sam stopped in his packs, brushing his hands together and replying, “Sure thing, li’l buddy!”

“Thanks!” He then said quietly to the small rabbit (who was trying to clean his face on his own), “I’ll be right back, baby, okay? Papá’s just gotta grab somethin’ first.” With that, he went to set aside the strawberry only for MJ to notice, whine, and make grabby hands at it. “Okay, alright! Here ya’ go.” He handed the strawberry to the baby, and the tiny rabbit took it in his little hands, and gratefully took another bite from it. As Sam came up behind Max, the lagomorph looked at him and said, “Make sure he doesn’t eat too much of that, yeah?”

“Of course,” Sam replied, taking a seat near the high chair. He raised a brow at Max, and asked, “Who’s at the door?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Max said with a dismissive wave of his hand, turning to leave the room. “Just stick with MJ, this’ll only take a second.”

Sam frowned, furrowing his brows a bit - because he knew damn well that ‘don’t worry about it’ meant that there was a mailman at the door. Still, while the lagomorph left the room, he stayed with the small rabbit, watching his son eat that strawberry which looked large compared to him and listening to his little ‘num num nums’ with an expression of endearment.

Max approached the door and proceeded to open it. Standing on their front porch was - just as Sam had suspected - a mailman, who had been waiting idly with a box with a clipboard and pen on top of it tucked under his arm, who appeared to have been looking elsewhere up until the door opened. As soon as it had been opened, the mailman flashed Max a smile, and said, “Good morning, sir!”

“ _ Gooood _ morning!” Max replied just as pleasantly, if not moreso, excited to receive his package for reasons he wouldn’t disclose for the time being. He pointed a finger right at the clipboard and asked, “Need me t’ sign that?”

“Yes, absolutely!” The mailman slipped the clipboard out and handed it to him. When the lagomorph had it in his hands, the guy leaned over and pointed to certain parts of the page, saying, “Just here, here and here, please.”

“ _ Alll _ righty!” With that, Max slipped out the pen and clicked it, proceeding with his signing.

Meanwhile, Sam was saying to the little rabbit with the mostly eaten strawberry, “Darn, you really ate the whole thing that fast!” MJ went to take a bite of the remaining piece that had the leaves on it still- “Oh no,” Sam said, taking the strawberry piece from him. This earned an annoyed whine from the baby rabbit, who once again made grabby hands at it. “Hang on, I’m givin’ it back!” The dog plucked off the leaves, curling them up in his palm before handing the remaining piece of the strawberry to the eagerly awaiting rabbit. “Just don’t want ya’ eatin’ dirty leaves, that’s all.”

He went over to the garbage bin and tossed the leaves out while his son finished off the strawberry. He then grabbed a cloth and ran it under the tap for a brief moment, wringing it before he brought it to MJ and wiped his face and hands free of juice, much to the little guy’s displeasure. After he rinsed off the cloth and set it aside to dry, MJ started babbling and banging his hands on the high chair’s tray, looking in the direction of his siblings that were playing in the living room.

“You wanna be with your brothers and sister?” Sam asked. The only response he got was more babbling and more banging, so he merely chuckled and said, “Alright. Up we go!” He picked up the rabbit from the high chair and exited the kitchen with him in his arms, bringing him to the living room where his siblings were.

When he got there, the pups had immediately stopped what they were doing to look up at the small rabbit in their dog father’s arms, and a few of them immediately stood up on their two legs. One of them was Nina, who, when Sam knelt down to put MJ down with them, instinctively reached her arms out to take him.

“Alright, sweetie - you can take him,” he murmured, handing the baby rabbit to the small pup. She immediately decided to sit down with him and, while the remaining siblings gathered around them, she groomed the top of his head. Sam smiled at the sight of sisterly affection.

His ears then perked up at the click of a pen, and Max saying, “Here ya’ go!” It prompted him to turn his head to look towards the front door-

And while the mailman was taking the clipboard from the lagomorph, he’d made the mistake of making direct eye contact with Sam. And as soon as he did, there was a low growling sound in the dog’s throat - and the poor mailman must have heard it from there, because he immediately looked nervous.

Max, meanwhile,  _ definitely _ heard it, glanced behind him to see Sam, grimaced in alarm and promptly took the package with a quick “Thank you!” moments before Sam started barking loudly at the mailman (which, by the way, had prompted all the other pups to start barking as well), practically flying from his spot in the living room towards the front door. This caused the poor mailman to let out a scream, before rapidly turning and running down the path that led to their front porch. The only thing keeping the dog from immediately going after him was the annoyed lagomorph, with a half-lidded, unimpressed look, grabbing ahold of his tail right before he left the noisy house entirely, and saying, “Down, boy.”

Although Sam still growled, he decided to pay mind to Max’s words and went back into the house. Once he was inside, Max shut the door, then looked at him with a package under his arm, a hand on his hip and tapping his foot against the floor. The dog merely gave a huff, readjusting his tie and said, “Surprised ya’ didn’t let me at ‘im.”

“I would’ve - but we got things t’ do and places t’ be,” Max replied over the sound of their kids still barking, now running over to the nearest window to see the commotion going on. “Can’t have ya’ chasin’ the poor dude around for forty minutes.”

“Yeesh, you? Responsible? You’re gettin’ soft, li’l buddy,” Sam said jokingly.

“Just for that, Sammothy, you better sleep with one eye open tonight,” he responded, his tone making it impossible to tell if he was joking or not.

The two dads ended up turning their gaze towards the pups, whose barking had escalated into howling once they saw the mail truck driving down the street. Realizing this behaviour was entirely on him, Sam said, “I’ll, uh- I’ll quiet ‘em down-”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Max said genuinely, clearly not bothered by the racket they were making. “I gotta start gettin’ ‘em ready t’ go anyway. How’s the packing?”

“Almost finished.” He pointed at the brown package under the lagomorph’s arm and asked, “You want me t’ take that into the room?”

Max’s ears straightened at that, pausing. Of course, naturally, he didn’t wish to hand it to Sam because that would possibly spoil the surprise! But if he didn’t without a good reason, that would also look suspicious...He decided to settle on the answer, “Nah, I should put these away myself. It’s probably the custom made shank I ordered a week ago, and I’ve got a  _ very _ particular place I wanna put it!”

“Fair enough.” He simply patted the space between the lagomorph’s ears and said, “Lemme know if ya’ need help gettin’ ‘em ready,” before walking down the hall back towards their bedroom.

Max gave a small, relieved sigh at having successfully avoided Sam being suspicious, and set the package aside before turning to the pups who were standing at the sliding back doors with their tails wagging excitedly, with MJ standing just behind them, his own little cottontail moving back and forth in excitement.

Max could only put his hands on his hips and shake his head with amusement at the rather adorable sight, before approaching them. After they’d noticed him coming near, they stopped almost immediately in their noise, a few of them whimpering quietly as if apologetically. “No, shush, babies - you’re okay!” He knelt down and patted one of them on the top of their head to reassure them. “You’re not in trouble. It’s just time t’ get ready!”

Once they had been quieted down and relaxed again, the first pup Max had decided to grab to get dressed was MJ. He almost laughed at feeling the little rabbit shaking with excitement, his tail still wagging. What a little ball of excited energy he was right now!

However, when the baby rabbit had decided to lean forward in Max’s arms and let out a big ol’ ‘ _ awoooo! _ ’ with his little voice, him  _ and _ the pups appeared incredibly surprised, with the pups all tilting their heads.

Even Sam had come back out with his ears arched up in curiosity, his eyes wide and blinking. “Who on earth was that?” he inquired.

“Well-” Max started answering, but was interrupted by a fascinated Cab giving a weak howl in response, as if testing to see if he would get a response. Indeed he did, as MJ let out another high pitched howl with as much energy as his first one, following it with a ‘ _ Ruff! Ruff! _ ’ This especially got the pups’ attention, and prompted them to start yapping again.

Sam could only kneel next to Max and heave a deep sigh through his nose, placing a hand on his husband’s shoulders. “My parents are gonna love these guys,” he murmured.

“ _ Ohhh _ yeah,” Max agreed. “Absolutely.”

. . .

For clarification: In the time that Sam and Max had had these children, they had not informed Sam’s parents of their existence. They had been intending to keep it a secret until they could arrive at their house for a short, somewhat overdue visit.

Of course, that also meant a long drive with the pups in the backseat along with Max to keep them company. For a good first chunk of the ride, they ran around the back, and barked at passing cars out the window that was opened just a crack to let the air flow through on this hot day (now with MJ joining in on the fun, which only served to make the pups bark more). There was also one brief incident where Sam nearly steered straight into a ditch because Sophie had abruptly started crying because she had managed to squeeze her toy sword through the slightly opened window, and he’d then had to perform an illegal U-turn just so they could grab it. She wouldn’t stop crying, though, because now the sword was covered in dust and dirt, and then Cab was getting upset because he was getting hungry, and Frank needed to go to a bathroom-

Basically, it all came down to Sam pulling into the parking lot of the first fast food burger joint he saw, and saying with tiredness clear in his tone, “Everyone out.”

So they got out of the DeSoto and entered the empty burger place with only but a gangly young adult guy at the counter. Sam got Frank to the bathroom and used a slightly dampened paper towel to wipe Sophie’s toy free of the dirt and dust before drying it under the hand dryer while Max ordered food for all of them to eat.

At first the lagomorph had suggested they take it to go and eat it on the way there, but by the time Sam got out of the bathroom with Frank, handing the plush sword back to an incredibly grateful Sophie who said ‘yay!’ and hugged it tightly, the dog simply shook his head and said, “Screw it - let’s just eat it here. There’s no rush anyway. And besides, y’know how mom gets when she catches us with fast food garbage.”

“Fair point,” was all Max responded with before removing the items from the bag so that they could simply relax and have lunch.

By the time they had finished up their pitstop and gotten back into the car, the pups had passed right out in the backseat, simply piling up on either side of their lagomorph father with MJ tucked into a neat little ball of fluff right on his lap. Both parents sighed deeply in content, with Sam murmuring, “Now this is a li’l more like it.”

“Mhm,” Max hummed in response, leaning his head against the backseat. “Never realized how long this ride is when you’re actually drivin’  _ responsibly _ .”

“Well, y’ ain’t wrong, li’l buddy, but on the other hand, you’re usually fast asleep for the ride!”

To that, Max could only crack a sharp-toothed grin, and replied jokingly, “What can I say? The vibrations of the car goin’ fifty miles over the speed limit is like bein’ rocked t’ sleep in the loving arms of a caring mother.”

“You crack me up, li’l buddy,” was all Sam could say to that. He looked in the rearview mirror, looking at the pups that were now fast asleep, with Sophie curled around her toy with it sticking straight up like a lightning rod. “Y’know this means that they’ll probably be full of energy and tearin’ up the house once we get there now, right?”

“Yeah, but least it won’t be  _ our _ house, right?”

“ _ Max _ -”

“Kidding! Kidding.” The lagomorph threw an arm over his eyes, and mumbled, “Let’s just...enjoy the quiet while we can, yeah?”

“Alright. You gonna doze off too, Max?”

“Oh, definitely. Wake me up once we pass by the cows so I can point and laugh at ‘em.”

Shaking his head in amusement, Sam merely replied, “Sure thing, li’l buddy.”

. . .

After much time spent in that car, they eventually found themselves on a dirt road that led into the rather small town with which Sam and Max’s parents lived in - and, once upon a time, a  _ very _ long time ago, so did Sam and Max themselves, back when they were wee children and rebellious, insecure teenagers just trying to make it through a day in a harsh, highly judgemental environment. They hadn’t hesitated to move out of there the first moment they’d gotten - that first moment being college, and soon extended to the apartment that was their office - but seeing as now they no longer had to deal with the issues that came with living there, they thought of it fondly as home.

And now they got to bring their kids to see it as well! Well, see the pleasant waterside and markets and small restaurants there, anyway. Not things like the allegedly cursed laundromat and the one place where the elderly played Bingo, which Sam and Max once accidentally broke the window of while trying to prank a teacher on her day off. Long story.

Anyway, as they were pulling into the town and driving through, the pups were beginning to stir, and, once they were fully awake and alert, seemed to marvel at the buildings that contrasted the New York City style of plain, cold buildings with very little to look at during the day and bright neons at night. There was a pub made up of the same wood that it had when it was built back in the 50s, there were buildings that were pastel-coloured, some with windows that seemed to be tinted to be a certain hue. Overall, the look of it was anything  _ but _ boring.

They eventually reached the house they were looking for, however - a neat, pale yellow house with a sort of white outline and a white roof to match, sitting on a neat little hill and a long set of brown, polished wooden stairs that led up to a white front door, with a thin driveway right next to them, which the DeSoto pulled into.

It was small. It was plain. But it was home. And as soon as they had parked into that driveway, they could see the front door opening.

Sam turned to look at his partner and said, “Alright, you know the drill, li’l buddy - just like we talked about. Try t’ keep ‘em quiet and out of sight ‘til the cue.”

Max smiled brightly, and made an ‘ok’ hand in response. “Got this in the bag, Sam!”

The dog smiled and gave a nod, before unbuckling himself and opened the driver’s side door, stepping out of the vehicle, and catching sight of his mother hurrying down the stairs with his dad following behind her at a slower pace before he shut the car door.

His mom - a Golden Retriever with silky brown fur more similar to Sam’s named Veronica - was smiling widely as she greeted her son with open arms, and an excited, “ _ Saaam! _ ”

“Hey, ma,” he greeted casually in return, before wrapping his arms around her in a firm hug, his mother patting his back.

She then pulled away to cup his head in her hands. “How are you?” she asked pleasantly. “Oh, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen ya’.”

“We’re doin’ alright,” he responded, right before turning his head to the tall, grey Irish Wolfhound that was his dad - who was named Alan. He flashed him a smile before embracing him as well.

“Always good t’ see ya’, sport,” his father said in that deep, gruff voice of his. When he pulled away, he cracked a slight smile and raised a brow at him. “You eatin’ enough or what, boy?”

Sam merely laughed at the inquiry. “Ah, y’know how it is, pops - chase a few crooks, lose the odd pound.” He then added jokingly, “Can never keep it off though, eh?”

“Ha! I hear that.”

While they were having that exchange, Veronica was glancing towards the DeSoto with a look of curiosity, before looking at Sam with a puzzled look on her face. “Where’s Max at? You didn’t forget ‘im at home or somethin’, did you?”

Sam, trying not to crack a knowing smile, shook his head. “No, he’s just-”

Since the questioning of his whereabouts had been the ‘cue’ that they’d both decided on, Max proceeded to roll down the window the rest of the way, and poked as much of himself out as necessary to keep the kids from attempting to worm their way out, a hand over Frank’s muzzle since he had been trying to bark, and called out, “Babe, ya’ mind helpin’ out with the  _ extra luggage? _ ”

Before Sam was even given the opportunity to reply, Alan was patting his son’s arm, and said, “Nah, I’ll get it,” and started heading over towards the car.

The lagomorph could feel the excitement running through his whole body as the older dog approached, and said cheerfully, “Oh, Mr. Barkley, aren’t ya’ just a peach!” Alan merely hummed in response. Max then promptly removed his hand from Frank’s muzzle, turned to pick him up, and held him out the window to the Wolfhound with a sharp-toothed grin. “Here ya’ go!”

Veronica had gasped loudly at seeing the pup (who was wagging his tail and panting happily), throwing her hands over her mouth in her surprise. Meanwhile, Alan’s brows had simply shot up in surprise, his normally half-lidded eyes widening in surprise. He took the pup into his arms, eyed him over, then looked over at his wife and simply said, “Well, I’ll be damned. This is certainly one way t’ make an announcement.”

“Sam, oh my God-!” the Golden Retriever started saying to her now snickering son with her hands on her chest.

She was interrupted, however, by Max pointing an index finger, and saying, “Wait, hold on, there’s more!”

She whipped her head in his direction, looking in disbelief. “There’s  _ more? _ ” She watched as Max disappeared in the DeSoto for another second before handing Cab to Alan as well. “Oh my  _ goodness- _ ”

“Wait!” Max said, starting to laugh, “There’s still more-”

“ _ No _ ,” she said in disbelief again, before heading over while saying, “Okay, no, I gotta see this.” While Max was getting another pup, she attempted to look in through the window, though his head was blocking her view. “How many do you  _ have _ in there!?”

“Hold on-” He cut himself off with a laugh. “Just hold on-” He held out Teddy, who stuck his tongue out.

She could only gasp, briefly placing her hands over her mouth again before taking him from her son-in-law, gently holding the puppy in her arms. “ _ Ohhh _ …” she said quietly, tears of pure joy welling up in her eyes. Without saying a word, Max held Sophie out the window, and Veronica took her as well. “Oh, they’re all so adorable…”

Max leaned out the car window to look at his husband, and said, “Sam, ya’ mind gettin’ Nina?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Sam replied, heading over. As soon as he was by the window, Max handed him the small girl, who appeared somewhat defensive yet curious of her adoptive grandparents. “Be careful of this one,” the dog told his parents, half-jokingly. “She bites.”

“They  _ all _ bite  _ you _ , Sammothy,” Max pointed out, which earned a small laugh from his father-in-law. “And now...for the grand finale…” He disappeared into the vehicle once again, and this time he opened up the door, and stepped out with MJ, who had his thumb in his mouth, in his arms, saying a pleasant, “Ta-da!”

“Well, ain’t he just a precious li’l man,” Alan commented.

“He sure is!”

Veronica could only blink the tears out of her eyes, laughing a bit before giving a small sniff. “Good lord, you boys should’ve told us! I’d have gotten these little ones some gifts before you came!”

“Yeah, but then we wouldn’t have been able t’ see the looks on your faces!” Sam replied with a bright smile on his face.

“Oh, you big saps. C’mon, let’s get these little guys inside and out of the hot sun.”

Once the parents and grandparents had trudged up the stairs and stood in the entrance of the house, Veronica had told them to simply place the pups down there and let them roam, so they’d done just that. The pups had seemed hesitant to start exploring, but once something had caught Sophie’s attention, the others soon began to gather their courage and start wandering. Max had kept the baby rabbit in his arms, but when Veronica had offered them to sit on the couch while she fetched them some drinks and Alan took care of their luggage, the lagomorph decided to place the baby on the carpet. MJ blinked as he looked around, twitching his nose, before deciding to hop on his merry way.

“Goodness, this is certainly quite the surprise,” the Golden Retriever said, pouring a glass of iced tea for the two of them. “And how long has this been a thing?”

“Only a few weeks,” Sam replied, thanking her quietly when she’d handed him his glass. “It’s mostly been an adjustment period for all of us, but we’ve all been doin’ pretty well.”

“I can tell!” she said, handing the other glass to Max. “They seem awfully happy. And frankly, so do you two!”

“What can we say?” Max said while his husband took a drink, and his father-in-law entered the house with their suitcases. “It’s nice finally havin’ li’l hellspawns t’ call our own. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.” He then said to Alan just as he was passing by, “You can just leave ‘em by the steps - we’ll take ‘em upstairs ourselves!”

Wordlessly, the Wolfhound did so, before entering the living room’s doorway and leaning on the doorframe. “So, what’re their names?”

“Okay, so-” Sam started listing the oldest two of the Mastiff pups according to the colours of their clothes, keeping in mind that everyone in the room was colourblind. “The li’l gal in the dark, orangeish-yellow shirt is Nina, the blue-grey dress is Sophie-”

“Cab’s the one with one blue eye over there,” Max said, pointing at the pup that was lying right by the couch, and was peering under it up until he heard his father speak his name, and looked over, blinking and tilting his head, puzzled. “If ya’ lose sight o’ him, definitely check under your couches. Or in your cupboards. He’s a master escape artist at age two. Pretty amazing actually!”

“Then the big fella with the darker fur’s Frank,” Sam added, then pointed at the Psychic pup, who had decided to plop by Max’s feet. “And the guy with the fur over his eyes is Teddy.”

Veronica tilted her head, raising a brow. “Can he see with all of that?”

“We’re not entirely sure, but he hates when it’s brushed out of his face and he never bumps into anything anyway, so we just leave ‘im be.”

“And the li’l, li’l guy with the even li’ler ears,” Max said, pointing directly at the white poof ball that Nina was not-so-subtly following around as he hopped close by the wall, sniffing it every so often, before clasping his hands together and pressing them to his cheek in absolute adoration, “Is Maximus Junior! MJ for short.”

“Aww!” Veronica said, placing a hand on her chest, a bright smile on her face. “Ain’t that the sweetest thing...and he looks just like ‘im, too!”

Alan, however, had a thoughtful expression on his features, before pointing at Teddy, and asking, “Charles or Wilson?”

“Neither,” Sam replied. “Max named ‘im Teddy Bear.”

“‘Cause, I mean, look at him!” Max chimed in, proceeding to pick up the pup by his feet and holding him up. The pup merely stuck his tongue out again.

“Ah, fair enough,” the older dog said, before tilting his head and asking, “What about Sophie - she named after someone, or-?”

“‘Parently some jazz singer that Max likes,” Sam replied, before putting a hand on his chin and saying, “Speakin’ of which, I never  _ did _ give ‘er a listen…”

The lagomorph, after setting Teddy back down on the floor, patted his husband’s leg. “It’s fine - we’ve been busy anyway.”

“Well, when we get back home, remind me t’ look her up so I can listen to her!”

“Sure thing, Firefly,” Max replied, despite knowing damn well that, in one way or another, he would forget to remind Sam to look her up and listen to her songs by the time they got back home.

Sam’s mother merely gave a warm smile and said, “All of their names are absolutely lovely and adorable, and I love each and every one of them.” Immediately after she’d said that, she had turned her head to look in Cab’s direction, only to give a small, surprised ‘oop!’ upon seeing the pup trying to squeeze himself underneath the couch. She promptly went to go grab him to keep him from doing that.

“So,” Alan said, scratching behind his ear, “How’s that house o’ yours been goin’? Ya’ never did take me up on my offer t’ help ya’ with renovations.”

Both Sam and Max’s ears perked up at that, and they exchanged a brief glance. They had made a promise not to inform Sam’s parents of the, er… _ ’recent’ _ events that had occurred, knowing well if they did, all they’d do is worry them and, more than likely, receive an earful in turn. So when they looked back at the older dog, two answers came out in unison:

Sam’s was, “We’ve been procrastinating.”

And Max’s was, “We’ve spent most of our free time sword fighting.”

Alan, somehow managing to pick up both responses, merely crossed his arms and raised a questioning brow. “...’Sword fighting?’”

“Uh- yeah,” Sam replied, “The house has an entire sword room, and, uh- yeah, we’ve spent more time in there than anywhere else in the house.”

“...For the past six months?”

“We’ve been busy at work!” Max chimed in. “We go out, we bust a few jaws-” He made a swinging motion with his hand, nearly hitting Sam in the process. “By the time we get back, we just wanna chill out and do our own thing!”

“Yeah,” Sam said, nodding in agreement. “And then we ended up gettin’ the pups, so we’ve made some changes here and there just for them, but we’ve still barely had a chance t’ really fix up much.”

While the Wolfhound continued to look at them questioningly, and with a hint of doubt in his eyes, Veronica, who was now carrying Cab in her arms, couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “I hear that,” she said, looking over at her husband. “New house, new kid and very little time to actually make the house a home.” She looked at Sam, then added, “By the time your father came home from his shift, the only thing either of us wanted t’ do was watch TV and sleep.”

While the duo were grateful to hear the Golden Retriever back up their excuse of being nowhere near finished with the house, Alan merely shrugged and went, “ _ Ehh _ , yeah. Tryin’ t’ personalize a house is never an easy time. ‘Specially when it was an old family member’s, I imagine - hard t’ figure out what t’ get rid of when everything’s got some sentimental value.”

“Mhm!” Max hummed in agreement with a nod.

With a small sigh through his nose, the old dog stopped leaning on the doorframe and took a moment to stretch a bit with his hands on his lower back. “Well, the offer still stands, boys. Ya’ ever need some help, just ring.”

“Thanks, pops,” Sam replied with a smile.

“Why don’t you two take your things and head upstairs,” Veronica suggested to Sam, “while your father and I watch the kids?”

Sam looked at his husband. “You cool with that, li’l buddy?”

The lagomorph simply waved a hand and said, “Sure, sure. They’ll be fine!”

“Alright.” He looked over at his parents, and said as he set aside his glass and stood up from the couch, “If ya’ need us t’ grab the playpen at any point, I’ve got it in the trunk of the car.”

“Honey,” Veronica replied with a smirk and a slight shake of her head, “I’ve never used a playpen to contain you or your sister, and I won’t need one for these little ones, either. If I happen to turn around, and they’re in the pantry stealin’ some pastries, that’s just how it was meant to be.”

“Well, if that’s the case, at least make sure the pastries are milk free, ‘cause MJ’s lactose intolerant,” Sam said, mostly kidding.

She simply shrugged. “No problem at all, sweetheart.” She then nuzzled her cheek against Cab’s. “Anything for these little cuties!”

While the duo left the two older dogs to tend to their newly discovered grandchildren, Sam scooped up the suitcases by their handles and, with Max leading the way, carried them up the stairs, the wood creaking slightly under their weight. As soon as the lagomorph reached the top of the stairs, he turned to the left, and headed down a short hall before turning to the third door on the right, and opening it up.

It revealed a room that, to the human eye, clashed terribly in terms of colours and was completely mismatched - blues and greens and yellows that looked very strange to the average person, but fit well for a person that could only see only a handful of hues. 

A large bed with a navy blue blanket sat in the middle of the room with a window over its wooden headrest, surrounded by shelves of various models Sam had put together over the course of his younger years, the odd award from a competition he got bronze or silver in, and old school projects that he’d been particularly proud of. Aside from that, those shelves were bare, but only because the collectibles that used to clutter them were removed from them when Sam had decided to take them with him.

The walls were covered with posters, primarily ones that were music-related. There were ones for singers such as Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles - and then there was the lone poster for Pentagram, one from  _ long _ before they had slapped on ‘Chile’ to their title, that practically stuck out like a sore thumb. But hey, what could he say? It was one of Max’s favourites and, admittedly, he hadn’t minded it despite extreme metal not particularly being his thing.

“Y’know, I’ve never said this before,” Sam said upon entering, pausing in the middle of the room, “But every time I step in here, I can’t help but detect this sorta phantom scent of old, greasy deep dish meat lover’s pizza mixed with the stale sweat of a teenager.”

Max nodded in agreement, and replied, “We  _ did _ have many an intense sleepover, with pillow fights that lasted for centuries, and bootleg fighter game matches that were a workout all on their own. Guess the juices from all those battles just seeped into the wood and aged like a fine wine.”

“That’s gross. I love you.”

The lagomorph flashed a smile at him right before deciding to spring from his place in the room and belly flop right onto the bed, inhaling the fabric deeply, before lifting his head up and saying jokingly, “ _ Ahhh _ , still has that good ol’ wet dog smell.”

“Oh, hush, knucklehead,” the dog replied, before kneeling down by the bed to shove their two suitcases underneath it.

Max poked his head over the edge of the bed and could just barely see the handles poking out, before glancing at Sam as he straightened his posture. “Not even gonna whip out the toothbrushes, Sammothy?” he asked teasingly.

“Normally, I would, but frankly li’l buddy, I’m exhausted.”

“Well, no wonder! You know Root Beer floats make ya’ sluggish, Sam!” Sam merely put a finger to his lips and lightly shushed his partner again. “Don’t shush me,” Max said, reaching his hands up and cupping the dog’s cheeks with his hands and giving that good ol’, goofy sharp-toothed grin of his. “You know I’m right.”

Sam simply responded by placing a kiss on his husband’s forehead, and murmured, “You crack me up,” earning a giggle from the lagomorph. He then said, “Scooch over.” Max did so, and Sam proceeded to climb onto the bed as well, flopping onto his back right beside the other. Max moved towards him, and laid his upper body on him, resting his chin on his arms. Sam wrapped an arm around him and exhaled deeply. “...Ya’ think they’d notice if we just fell asleep right here?”

“Your parents? Maybe, but maybe not. The pups? They’d probably sense it from a mile away with their li’l puppy sixth senses, come chagrin’ right up the stairs and hop straight onto this bed just t’ snuggle.”

“Well,” Sam threw in jokingly, “ _ Seventh _ sense for Teddy, technically speaking.” Max merely snorted, finding some humour in the statement. With his free hand, Sam rubbed at his eyes, yawning deeply. “You were right though - that car ride did feel longer.”

“Mhm.”

“And noisier.  _ Definitely _ noisier.” The dog flopped his free hand back down by his side. “Like by God, I love those kids more than my life, but holy  _ crap _ .”

“I’m sure havin’ the windows down wasn’t helpin’ the overload,” Max murmured.

“No. Not at all. I mean, I’m usually all for havin’ the wind rush through my fur, but I just...” He trailed off then, going quiet for a few moments. His gaze averted to the side and he frowned a bit, then muttered, “God.” He looked over at his husband, and said, “I shouldn’t even complain like this.”

Max’s ears were beginning to droop forwards, but he twitched one upwards upon hearing that statement. “Why’s that?”

“I dunno. I feel like I sound like I’m complainin’ about ‘em-” Referring to the pups. “-and I feel bad, ‘cause I’m not, but I sound like I am, but I know this ride’s a first for ‘em and it was probably as bumpy as them as it was for us, if not more-”

Max couldn’t help but laugh a little at the dog’s rambling - not making fun of him, of course, but because he couldn’t help but find his worry just a touch endearing. The sound was enough to make Sam cut himself off, his ears perking in surprise. The lagomorph responded to Sam’s unspoken question by leaning over and pressing a smooch to the side of his partner’s muzzle, before resting his chin on his arms again with that amused smile of his, and saying, “Welcome t’ parenthood, babe.”

Sam had been momentarily taken by surprise by the kiss, but, understanding Max’s point, gave a warm smile to his husband, and touched noses with him. “Wouldn’t trade any of it for the world,” he said quietly, before giving another yawn.

“No point in tryin’ t’ fight sleep, Firefly,” Max said, although fighting a yawn of his own, “If ya’ don’t sleep now, you’ll just pass out on the couch later.” He added jokingly, “And if that happens, I’m gonna pick on ya’ relentlessly for bein’ an old man.”

Sam chuckled at that. “Fair enough.”

Shortly after, the small, baby rabbit had apparently discovered the stairs and decided to hop up them a stair at a time. When he eventually reached the top, he glanced one way, then another, then decided to take a turn to the left. After hopping down the hallway, he stopped right in front of the only open door, his nose twitching.

It hadn’t taken long, however, for Veronica to notice that the little guy had gone (look, when one’s son informs them their tiniest grandson has sensitivities, one tends to keep a closer eye on said grandson), and had been quick to search for him. She passed by the stairs once before noticing the small hint of white by the rail on the top level, and went up the stairs at once.

“There you are!” Veronica exclaimed quietly as she approached the baby rabbit, making him look up at her with a twitch of his ears. She knelt down and picked him up. “What are you-”

He whined quietly, waving his arms towards the room. This prompted her to look into the room - and her smile faded in surprise upon seeing her son and son-in-law sleeping on the bed.

“Oh,” she murmured. When the baby whined again, a little louder, she shushed him gently, and reached for the knob of the door and shut the door, saying to him, “We’ll just let them sleep for now, hon. In the meantime, why don’t I make you and your brothers and sisters a snack, yeah? I’m sure you’d like that.” With that, she turned and began to head back up the hall, with the little rabbit looking over her shoulder.

. . .

When the Freelance duo had awoken again, it had been to the sound of the knocking on their door. Sam had been curled around his husband (naturally), and when he and Max lifted their heads to look at the door, they both gave questioning grunts, looking at it with half-lidded eyes. Sam had an ear flopped over the top of his head like a wet rag.

The door creaked open, and the Golden Retriever poked her head in, giving them a polite smile. “Supper’s ready, you two. Your father whipped out the grill just for you two.”

“So that’s why I smelled bacon in my dream,” Max joked groggily, before giving a yawn.

“Thanks, ma,” Sam replied, “We’ll be down in a minute.”

“Just be quick,” Veronica said, then added jokingly, “‘Fore the old man decides t’ eat all of it himself.” With that, she turned and left, leaving the door open for them.

While the dog unwrapped himself from around the lagomorph, and turned onto his back, Max had taken a moment to stretch himself out before looking over at Sam and deciding to lie his upper body on him again. “Mm, good nap, babe?”

Sam placed a hand on his partner’s back and gave him a smile. “One of the best I’ve had in the past few weeks, Max.”

“That’s good,” Max replied, cracking a toothy smile of his own, leaning his head right on Sam’s chest. “Wish I could say the same, but your snoring’s on another level, Sammothy,” he said, though clearly kidding.

The dog merely responded with, “You crack me up, li’l buddy.”

Max’s smile widened a bit, then hopped off the bed and said, “C’mon, let’s eat! I’m so starved, I could eat the whole pig in one bite!”

“Now  _ that _ would be a morbidly fascinatin’ sight t’ see,” Sam commented before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed himself, and following his husband out of the room.

While the adults of the family were seated at the table - which had plates of sausages, pork chops and burgers alongside corn cobs and baked potatoes - the pups were mostly hanging around on the blanket that had been set out for them while their grandparents cooked. Though they had been laying down for most of the time they had been cooking, according to Veronica, they now appeared to be staring attentively towards the table, apart from MJ, who was too busy chewing on the end of the blanket to pay any attention.

“Goodness,” their grandmother said as she took the plate of potatoes from her husband, grabbing the tongs to place one on her plate. “With a stare like that, you’d never know they’d been snacking earlier.”

“Well, can’t fault ‘em, ma,” Sam replied as Max was busy with the sausage plate. “They’ve been livin’ with us for weeks, and take a good look at how  _ our _ eatin’ habits are.” With that, he looked at his partner and murmured, “Are you gonna hog the sausages or what?”

“Hey,” Max said defensively, pointing the tongs with sauce on them at him, “The sausages are the  _ best _ part-”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m tellin’ you t’ hand ‘em over,” he said, deadpan. The lagomorph groaned with a roll of his eyes before reluctantly giving up the plate to Sam, which earned a somewhat triumphant smile from the dog. “ _ Thank _ you, love of my life,” he said pleasantly, grabbing the tongs and clacking them together twice. “And thank  _ you _ , pops, for grillin’ such great sausages.”

“Stop bein’ a goof and hurry up,” was all Alan, who’d yet to put any on his plate, muttered.

“Fair enough,” his son replied, before proceeding to grab himself some.

The pups watched with all the focus in the world as their dog father placed a few sausages on his plate, before handing the plate to his mother so that she may hand it to his father. Finding the scent all too enticing, Teddy decided to finally get on all fours and toddle his way over, walking past his grandmother’s seat before stopping by Alan’s, plopping down and sitting next to his chair and looking up at him while he served himself.

The Wolfhound noticed the pup only after he’d set the plate back down on the table in front of him, and shook his head at him. “No, this ain’t for you, li’l boy,” he said. “These’re a li’l too big even for you.” With that, he turned back to his plate, grabbing his fork and knife to begin digging in.

Teddy continued to stare, however, but his gaze had moved from his grandfather to the plate itself, the wheels turning in his little mind. After a good ten, fifteen seconds of thinking, the Psychic pup was soon enveloped in that blue light again. The next moment, he was suddenly about an inch above the table before dropping right on top of it, his left back paw tipping the plate of pork chops and causing them to toss right onto the table cloth.

Shocked, Alan found himself dropping his cutlery right on top of his plate, sliding his chair back and throwing his scarred left arm up, as if to shield himself in one motion, his eyes wide as he exclaimed, “Oh, sweet Jesus!”

Veronica, on the other hand, only murmured, “Oh dear,” in reaction to her grandson suddenly teleporting right onto the table, seemingly mildly worried by not by the situation itself so much as for the pup’s safety.

While everyone - even his parents and his fellow dog siblings - were bewildered by this sudden predicament, Teddy was keeping his eye on the prize - which, of course, was the plate of sausages. He lowered his head so that his nose was underneath the rim of the plate, and he began to start pushing the plate forward and towards the corner of the table.

Upon seeing and realizing what it was their brother was doing, the pups, excitement beginning to seep into every line of their body, all immediately got to their feet and started running over to where Teddy had been sitting a mere few moments ago, with MJ - unaware of what was going on but wanting to join his siblings in the fun anyway - hopping just behind them.

As soon as the pups were all sitting in the same spot, their tails wagging and them all looking up expectantly, Veronica also caught onto what was happening. “Oh, nonono, wait-!” she said, panicked, as she attempted, at first, to stop her grandson from pushing the plate over the edge of the table, not wishing for it to break and potentially harm the pups.

However, Teddy had already gotten it close to the edge, so she then had to quickly catch the plate just as it was beginning to tip over, just barely managing to save all but a lone sausage, which bounced off of Frank’s face before landing on the floor. Immediately after it had, however, the pups swooped right in, and started snapping at it, trying to be the first to grab ahold of it.

Sam had stood from his chair (while Max stood  _ on _ his chair) just to look at the scene occurring on the opposite side of the table. “...Y’know,” he said, exchanging a look with his husband, “This reminds me of that one scene from Air Buddies where they push the pie off the counter.”

Max thought that over for a moment. “Huh. Yeah.”

Alan stared as Nina and Sophie started fighting over the single sausage, getting sauce all over themselves, before looking at Teddy right as he was glowing again, only to see him reappear right on top of Nina, making the smaller pup yap in surprise and allowing the other girl pup to claim the sausage for herself for a brief five seconds before Cab decided to hop in and try to take it from her.

“...Was there  _ any _ point-” the old dog turned his gaze directly to his son and son-in-law, “-that you two were plannin’ on sharin’ that li’l tidbit of information, or were ya’ just countin’ on me not havin’ a heart attack upon seein’ that?”

“To be fair,” Sam said while Max hopped off the chair and started making his way around the table to fetch the sausage from the pups, “It’s not exactly somethin’ you can predict. One moment, you’re lookin’ right at ‘im, the next, he’s gone halfway across the house.”

“...Uh-huh.” Alan pushed his plate forward so that he could lean an arm on the table. “It’s just that  _ casual _ of an occurrence, eh?”

“Oh, definitely!” Max chimed in, making the Wolfhound look in his direction right as he was trying to pry Nina off of the sausage. “I mean, this kid’s teleported out of the room just t’ try and get out of a bath!”

“Tracked mud all over the carpet,” Sam muttered, rubbing a hand against his temple. “That was sure fun.”

“It sure was!” the lagomorph replied cheerfully.

“...I see,” Alan murmured, looking over Max as he said that. “Very interestin’ kid ya’ got, Sammy-boy.” He turned to look at Sam and quirked a brow, saying jokingly, “You sure he’s adopted?”

“Hard t’ tell when I love him as dearly as I’d love my own,” was all Sam said to that.

To that, the older dog pointed a finger at him and said, “Good answer.”

“Mrs. Barkley,” Max said, now holding a partially marred sausage with tiny bite marks in them, “You wouldn’t happen t’ have a knife I could borrow t’ chop this old thing up, would ya’? May as well feed these li’l vultures with  _ bite-sized _ pieces if they’re gonna be so insistent about it, after all!”

“Just in the drawer there, hon!” Veronica replied, placing the plate of sausages back on the table where it would, hopefully, be safe. “Sam, do you mind cleanin’ up those pork chops?”

“Sure can, ma,” Sam said.

. . .

After supper, Sam had agreed to help his mother with the dishes while Max went off to clean the pups off and get them changed into clean clothes, and Alan went outside to scrub the grill.

“Sorry ‘bout that incident, ma-” Sam had started apologizing as he started scrubbing a plate with smeared barbeque sauce and grease with a sponge.

“Samuel, sweetie,” Veronica interrupted with a sharp tone, “Don’t you say sorry for those kids for a  _ second _ . Ain’t nothin’ those kids could do to stir  _ my _ pot, you understand? I was more concerned over them hurtin’ themselves than the mess they were making. Besides-” She nudged his arm with an elbow, giving him a smile. “It  _ was _ pretty funny.”

Sam chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. “Yeah,” he said. “It sure was. They’re certainly a comical bunch, those kids.”

“Keeps the day interesting, I imagine.” Sam hummed in agreement. “Say, have you told Samantha about ‘em yet?”

The dog paused at the inquiry, blinking once slowly. Samantha was the name of his previously mentioned younger sister - but for all his reminiscing about when she was a baby, she wasn’t someone he was all that close to. Although he’d always been happy enough to see her whenever he came back home while she lived there, he found the two of them didn’t talk much every since she’d moved out to the countryside. So the only response he could give his mother was a shake of his head, and, “No, I, uh...haven’t been able t’ reach ‘er.” (Which was a lie, by the way - he hadn’t actually thought to try.)

His mother gave him a questioning look, raising a brow. When he didn’t look back at her, she simply looked back at the dish she was cleaning and said, “That’s a shame.” Just as Sam internally grimaced at the mild sound of disappointment in her voice, she added, “But I suppose that’s a good sign as well, in a way. Must be pretty busy up there with her farm.”

“Yeah, probably,” he replied quietly. After a moment’s pause, he said, “ _ Mmm _ aybe I’ll try callin’ her again later t’ tell ‘er.”

“If you do, put me on the phone with her too. Would love to hear how she’s been doing up there!”

He gave her a polite smile. “Sure thing, ma.”

As they continued to clean, with the only sound being the running water and the sound of sloshing water, Sam found himself eventually glancing around, as if looking to see if anyone was around. Veronica hadn’t failed to notice, and raised a brow at him, though also giving an amused smile. “What’s up with you, son?”

Once Sam had been certain that there was no sign of Max around, he looked back at her and asked, “Do you think you and I could go visit that dress shop downtown tomorrow? Just me and you?”

She couldn’t help but blink at the inquiry, but laughed a little. “Yeah, of course, hon. Mind if I ask why it’d be just me and you, though?”

“It’s for a wedding, that’s why.”

“Wedding? Whose?”

He spared another glance around, before offering her a smile, and lowering his voice. “Mine. I think I’m gonna propose t’ Max again.”

She blinked again - even harder this time - and she found herself needing to shut the running water off before giving him a look of surprise and confusion. “‘Again?’” she repeated quietly. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

“I mean just that - I’m gonna propose t’ him again!”

The Golden Retriever stared at him for a second longer before giving a laugh that was part amusement, part disbelief, and shaking her head. “Are you tellin’ me you’re gonna marry your  _ husband _ and have an  _ entire _ wedding with him again?”

“Why not?” the dog asked genuinely, his tail wagging slightly at the thought. “Things are goin’ good, we got the kids now - I think it’d be cool t’ have a wedding that they could be part of, don’t you?”

His mother could only laugh heartily in response, placing her dry hand on his arm as she did so. “Sweetie,” she said, wiping at her eye with a forearm, “I support any decision you make, and I will one- _ hundred _ percent help you go pick out a lovely dress, and I expect t’ see an invitation in the mail when you’re finally ready and raring to go, you hear?”

Sam’s smile widened at that, and he found himself kissing the top of her head. “Thanks, ma - you’re the best.”

“Don’t I know it!”

“Just don’t tell anyone, alright? I haven’t told anyone else yet, and I’d prefer it’d stay that way for now.”

To that, she made a motion of zipping her lips, and said, “These lips are sealed, sweetheart. No one’ll get a single word out of me.” As she returned to cleaning the dishes, she muttered, “Not even your father, ‘cause lord knows that he can’t keep a secret for the life of him.” Sam merely let out a loud laugh at that in response.

. . .

By the time the dishes and grill had been cleaned, the pups were now sauce-free and comfortably in their pyjamas and playing with their toys in the living room. Their dads were seated on one couch on one side of the room while their grandparents were seated on another couch on the opposite side - and while Sam, Max and Veronica were watching whatever sitcom was playing on the television at the moment, Alan found himself observing the pups as they played.

To be exact, he was eyeing Teddy while he played with his siblings, partially because he’d found the pup to be odd, what with his apparent abilities, yet still fascinating - but also because something about him and the way he was interacting with his siblings had caught his attention, and so he found himself observing him to see whether or not it’d be fair to inquire about it.

The thing he had noted about Teddy was mostly in how vocal he was while playing. His siblings were  _ quite _ noisy while they were playing - yapping at each other to get each other’s attention, growling while they were having a small spat over a toy. They even babbled at each other, or would even say an actual word (though, usually that word was ‘no’ and it was usually because one of them was trying to take the other’s toy).

Teddy, however, wasn’t like that at  _ all _ . For the amount that his brothers and siblings were expressing themselves vocally, he hadn’t uttered a single sound in comparison. And excluding the fact that the pup had his eyes covered, thus already making it hard to tell what he could be thinking, the Wolfhound couldn’t help but notice how he never seemed to actually smile. If not for the fact that the boy’s tail was clearly wagging, one would never have guessed that he was having any fun at all. No wonder his son and son-in-law could never predict the kid’s actions - he was a hard book to read.

Frankly, as he observed, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were having a sense of deja vu and flashing back to when he was nearly four decades or so younger and sitting and watching Sam - his firstborn and only son - behaving in a very similar way. Lack of facial expression, no sound coming from him - hell, at least Teddy seemed interested in his toys and interacting with his siblings. Sam as a baby, on the other hand, hadn’t taken any particular interest in anything or anyone up until Veronica’s parents had been kind enough to introduce him to Max as a way to try and help him.

Speaking of Sam, he must have eventually noticed that his father was staring at his children, because before the older dog even noticed him looking over, he found himself being snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing his son ask, “Everything good there, pops?” which, naturally, had caught the attention of both the lagomorph and the Golden Retriever.

Though Alan found himself blinking once or twice, he didn’t look up at Sam. He merely kept watching as Teddy batted at Frank, trying to engage in play with him, and asked, “How old you say these li’l guys were again? Two?”

“Those five are two, yeah,” Sam responded casually, figuring it was an innocent enough question. “MJ...well, he’s probably roughly anywhere between a month and a month and a half. We’re not really quite sure,” he admitted.

“Right,” Alan mumbled, kept his gaze on the pup with the fur over his eyes, before giving a sigh through his nose and finally leaning back against the cushions, draping an arm on the back of the couch right behind his wife’s head and resting his opposite hand on his stomach. “Teddy don’t really seem t’ make much noise, does he?”

Sam admittedly blinked, a little taken off-guard by the question. Max, however, was the one to answer with, “Oh, no. He doesn’t. He’s generally a pretty quiet kid.”

“‘Pretty quiet’ is right. You get ‘im checked out for that?”

“Well, no,” Sam responded, shaking his head to shake off his surprise. “We’ve, uh...mostly just been tryin’ t’ wait and see.”

“Guess I can’t fault ya’ for that. But take it from me, boy - you probably should. Or at the very least, prep yourself for the possibility that maybe waitin’ and seein’ ain’t gonna get ya’ anywhere.”

“What do ya’ mean?”

“I mean, maybe ya’ oughta take up sign, sport. Y’know, ASL, that sort o’ thing. Probably could find an old book lyin’ ‘round somewhere. I dunno how dated it’d be  _ now _ , ‘f course, ‘cause it’s from the 70s, but-”

“Wait a sec,” Sam said, raising a brow. “You- ...you own a book on ASL?”

“Sure do. Bought it ‘round the time you were a baby and held onto it ever since. Always figured that maybe it’d come in handy one day - and I ain’t entirely surprised that I was right.” Sam and Max exchanged a look. “I know, I know - probably seems intimidatin’ t’ learn a whole new language based ‘round your hands-” He held his hands up and wiggled his fingers as he said that, before returning them to their original position. “-But it really ain’t that hard once ya’ start gettin’ the hang of it-”

Max couldn’t help but give a playful scoff, waving a hand. “ _ Please _ , Mr. Barkley-” He placed a hand on his chest, giving a proud, sharp-toothed smile. “You are lookin’ at the  _ king _ of learnin’ other languages,  _ muchas gracias, très apprécié _ . It’s just that, uh- well, Sam and I’ve considered raisin’ the kids on both English  _ and _ Spanish-”

“You could still do that, y’know. I mean, unless ya’ find out he’s deaf. Then that’s-”

“No, no, he’s not. I just mean that- well- how could I teach ‘im both through sign?”

He clearly was asking genuinely, and to that, Alan couldn’t help but crack an amused smile. “Ya’  _ do _ realize there’s probably a Chilean sign language out there, right, boy?”

Max’s ears perked up at that, twitching slightly. He then said, “Uh- yeah! ‘Course I did, I was just, uh...seein’ if you knew that…? I mean, in case you wanted t’ learn as well…” He scratched the top of his head with a finger, and raised a brow. “Where was I goin’ with this?”

The old dog could only shake his head. “You sure are somethin’ else,” he said under his breath, before inquiring at a normal volume, “Ya’ want me t’ grab that book for ya’ or what?”

Before Max could get another word in, Sam simply answered for him and said, “That’d be great, pops. Thanks.”

Alan simply gave a nod, then grunted quietly as he got to his feet and exited the room. There was the sound of thumping and creaking as he went up the stairs. As soon as the sound faded, Sam said to Max, “He catches on quick, don’t he?”

“I’m not really surprised,” the lagomorph replied. “He’s got the same level of focus as an eagle to a backyard fishpond.”

The Golden Retriever lightly  _ tsk _ ed goodnaturedly, gaining the duo’s attention, their ears perking. “For as cold and as stubborn as that man comes off as, he’s one of the most worrywart people I’ve ever met.” She looked away from the TV and looked at her son, and said, “You know he impulse bought that book the moment he started kickin’ up a fuss over you being a little too quiet?”

“How could I know that when I didn’t even know he had a book for that?” Sam asked genuinely, the rhetorical part of the question going over his head.

She knew better than to correct him. “I don’t believe I’d ever seen him as worried as he had been back then. At first I gave ‘im a hard time about it, ‘cause I thought he was getting worried for the wrong reasons - but he wasn’t. He was genuinely concerned. Not to say that I wasn’t, but I was reacting more how you two were - just going with the flow of things and seeing where we’d end up.”

“Yeah, well,” the dog said, “Kinda glad he’s got more of the ‘thinking ahead and bein’ prepared’ mentality.”

“It has its perks,” she agreed, “So long as you don’t let it make you overthink everything.”

“Ya’ think that’s what he’s doin’ now?”

“I think he’s just a grandpa that cares for his grandson and wants to make sure he’s taken care of and happy.”

“That certainly makes all of us,” he replied, glancing over at Teddy since there was so much attention being drawn to him. The pup, on the other hand, did not seem to notice any of the attention, and was simply lying on his stomach, his legs sprawled out, and wagging his tail happily.

. . .

The book that Alan gladly handed over to the fresh parents was clearly aged, and was covered in several cracks and chips from the years, the pages yellowed and wrinkled - the latter likely being from water damage, the Wolfhound had guessed. The green cover (light orange to Sam - yellow to Max) had faded thanks to time, and took on a pale, almost depressing look. The yellow letters on the cover were hardly there, looking as if someone had taken a knife to it and attempted to scrape it off. For all of its ugliness appearance-wise, however, the contents inside remained coherent and could be read without issue.

Max had, admittedly, found himself taking quite the interest in the book for reasons he couldn’t quite explain other than that, maybe, his instinct to provide for his child was what drove his interest. He just knew that what started off as a casual skin through to see what was what ended up becoming him sticking his nose right in, observing each image in the book carefully. He even found himself attempting some of the signs that he figured were easy enough to do. He quickly discovered they weren’t - not when he lacked an entire pinky to do some of them. Even then, it was as if the wheels were turning in his head, trying to mentally figure out how he would make some of these work.

Currently, the lagomorph was sitting on the couch just behind the pups, who were in the middle of eating a breakfast that Veronica had had the courtesy of making for them, with MJ drinking from a proper bottle and the book laid out beside him on the couch, trying to review the ASL alphabet as a way to properly start learning. Suddenly, without warning, he’d felt a peck on his cheek, which made him snap out of his focus and blink several times, his nose and ears twitching, before he whipped his head around to see his husband standing there, dressed pretty casually in no more than a t-shirt and some jeans.

“I’m headin’ out,” Sam informed him, much to his surprise.

“Headin’ out?” Max asked, removing the bottle from MJ’s mouth before holding him to his shoulder, patting his back. “Headin’ out where?”

“With ma. Told ‘er I’d come with her while she runs some errands.”

“Oh,” he replied, his tone sounding a little flat.

Sam understood well why he’d responded like that, and he patted his partner’s class. “Don’t worry, it’s nothin’ terribly excitin’. I just see no reason t’ let ‘er go on her own, that’s all.”

“Eh, fair enough.” He tilted his head up a bit, and Sam took his cue to lean down and held Max’s chin as he smooched him.

“I shouldn’t take too long, alright?” the dog said. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Take your time, hot stuff,” Max replied with a toothy grin, earning a chuckle from his partner.

“You crack me up, li’l buddy,” Sam just managed to say, before his mother appeared in the living room just behind him, wearing a purple dress with a handbag strapped on her shoulder, getting both of their attention.

“You ready to go, Sam?” she asked.

Sam nodded. “Sure am.”

“Perfect.” With that, she started making her way towards the door.

As they left, Max could make out Sam asking jokingly, “Say, can I drive?”

“Oh, absolutely  _ no- _ ” Veronica started replying, before the sound of the front door cut her off, leaving the house with only the sound of the cartoon on the TV playing, and the pups chomping away at their breakfast.

Shame that he wasn’t back at his own place right now, because if he had been, he’d try on that pretty wedding dress that had been delivered before they left and had to lie about and say it was a custom shank to keep Sam from getting suspicious. Not necessarily because he was worried that it wouldn’t fit him - even if it was too big, he’d gladly just go around looking like he was drowning in the fabric - it was just that it was incredibly gorgeous!

If it wasn’t obvious yet - yes. Max was  _ also _ planning on proposing to his husband and marrying him again. Go figure.

After the pups had finished eating, he gathered up their plates and put them in the sink, allowing them to sit in some soapy water first before grabbing a cloth to wash up his children with, much to their annoyance. Once their faces were void of any stray pieces of scrambled egg and hashbrown, he left them to their own devices. He knew well that those guys wouldn’t budge for a good while so long as those Saturday morning cartoons on the television were playing. So, he decided to return to the sink and finish scrubbing off the plates - y’know, just to be polite to his mother-in-law.

Once he had finished cleaning them off and leaving them in the dish rack to dry, he returned to the couch he’d been sitting on, and went to pick up the book again. However, just as he was opening it back up, he heard a small whimper in front of him, and moved the book out of the way of his view to see Frank sitting at his feet, looking up at him expectantly.

The lagomorph blinked once, before giving a caring smile. He set the book aside on the nearby coffee table, then murmured, “C’mere,” as he proceeded to lift up the large pup onto the couch with him, at first placing him on his hip before Frank decided he’d rather crawl across him and flop next to his side instead. While Max reached for the book again, he failed to notice how the pups had all looked over when he’d allowed Frank to hop up with him. He also didn’t notice them immediately coming over until Sophie had suddenly started scrambling up the couch on her own, surprising him momentarily before noticing the other pups following her lead. Before he knew it, all of the pups were on the couch with him, save for MJ, who was now batting at his father’s leg to let him back up.

“Pushy,” Max said jokingly, shaking his head, before lifting him up onto the couch as well. Immediately, the baby rabbit decided to curl up into that usual poof ball formation of his, earning a smile from him. And wouldn’t you know, when he looked at the other pups, they all looked like they weren’t too far from snoozing themselves. He would say that he didn’t understand how on earth they could be so energetic on some occasions yet so sleepy on others, but he’d be lying considering he was practically the exact same way.

Seeing as he was now being held hostage by these sleepy little furballs, he figured now really  _ was _ a better time than any to pick up that book and start studying through it again. So he did just that, returning to his attempt to learn how to form a J, though admittedly a little confused with it slightly considering he was merely going by a still image and not a video that could show him how the motion was meant to be done. It didn’t seem  _ too _ difficult, though…

While he was doing that, he didn’t hear the sound of the Wolfhound descending down the stairs and approaching the living room. Alan had only managed to get his attention because he’d asked, “And how’s that goin’ for ya’ so far?”

The lagomorph looked over at him quickly, his ears twitching for a moment before giving the older dog a smile. “Oh, piece o’ cake! Or will be - once I confidently determine whether or not I can get away with usin’ my ring finger ‘stead of spontaneously sproutin’ a pinky.”

“Certainly takes some gettin’ used to,” he agreed. His gaze then moved over to the pups that had now decided to shut their eyes. “Jeez, nap time for ‘em already?”

“I  _ know! _ What a glorious life t’ live!”

“Implyin’ ya’ don’t live that life already.”

“Actually, I wasn’t implyin’ it at all - I was sayin’ it from experience!”

“You’re somethin’ else,” was all the Wolfhound replied with. The sound of a police siren came from the TV, catching both of their attention, and while Max carefully reached for the remote to turn it down, trying not to wake up his children, Alan found his expression shifting into a frown. Once the TV had been turned down, and Max had set aside the remote again, he looked back at his son-in-law. “What’s work been like?”

Max was a little surprised by the question, so he stammered, “Uh- work? Work’s been mostly uneventful.”

“‘Mostly?’” he repeated, raising a brow.

He understood what it was that his father-in-law was getting at, and he frowned a little at it. “Sam and I have been barely outta the house since we got the kids,” he clarified, “Let alone workin’.”

“Good answer,” the old dog muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “And when are ya’ plannin’ on goin’ back? ”

After he’d made that inquiry, Max felt his ears involuntarily pin back slightly, his gaze flickering off to the side nervously. There were not many people that Max felt even the slightest bit intimidated by, but Alan Barkley was certainly one of them. As nice as a guy he could be, he was also a stern man that could only put up with so much nonsense, and he could very well sense that the old dog had something he wanted to say, and he wasn’t quite sure if he was gonna like what it was - because Alan had a tendency to say things that were hard to hear because of how on-point they were.

Still, he took the bite, and he looked back at the Wolfhound with a questioning look, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t...know. Just when we feel like we’re ready, I guess.”

“So you’re plannin’ on goin’ back?”

“Why’re ya’ so curious about this all of a sudden?”

“Because,” Alan said - and Max knew as soon as he said it that they were finally getting to the point - “I ain’t sure if I like the idea of you two workin’ now that you got kids.”

“What, like, period?” Max asked, giving an awkward laugh because he  _ knew _ that he was being a bit of a smartass only because he  _ really _ wasn’t liking that they were having this conversation while it was practically just those two in the house. “Or-”

“You know  _ exactly _ what I mean,” he replied, keeping his voice even mostly for the pups. Max knew that normally, if him or Sam had responded in such a way, Alan might’ve responded with a stricter, sharper tone. “I know that you two know just how dangerous what you do is.”

“ _ Whaaat? _ No.” He gave another small laugh. “No, it’s not  _ that _ bad. I mean, c’mon, it’s me and Sam - you know nothin’ gets past us.”

“Nothin’s got past ya’,” Alan repeated in a mutter, sounding doubtful. “But you two’ve gotten a hell of a lot of close calls. I mean, how many times have you nearly gotten hurt or worse out there? How many times has-”

He was about to mention Sam. Max  _ knew _ that he was about to mention Sam, but he’d cut himself off short, because obviously it wasn’t the older dog’s intention to start an actual fight - and if he had gone there, it no doubt would have. But even just knowing it had been enough to make the lagomorph’s stomach twist a little. Max could only give an audible huff out of his mouth, before asking quietly, “Where’re ya’ goin’ with this, Barkley?”

The Wolfhound’s gaze had moved to the floor after nearly saying what he’d said, and it remained there for a moment. He exhaled out of his nose in a sigh, and looked back at Max. “Look - I see a lot of myself in you two when it comes t’ this new parent thing. And most of that’s a good thing, but some of it, not so much. I ended up givin’ up my badge just t’ be there for Sam, so I just- I don’t want somethin’ happenin’ t’ either of you two and that affectin’ your kids.”

Max looked at him, wide-eyed, nose twitching. He found himself looking at the older dog’s arm, which had a brutal scar on it from some criminal, then he was lowering his gaze and, incidentally, looking right down at his babies, dressed up in their cute little pyjamas, snoozing soundly. The book had been long abandoned at this point, so his hands were now free for him to gently place one on Frank’s back, who, aside from a brief twitch of his lids, didn’t react.

The lagomorph’s eyes went half-lidded, his brows knitting together in deep thought. He eventually shut his eyes and exhaled, then looked at his father-in-law with furrowed brows. “We won’t let that happen,” he said, deadpan. “I can guarantee that.”

Now, Alan obviously still didn’t know the true origin of the pups. He didn’t know how they had been rescued from a facility, or that Max had willingly gone the extra step just to guarantee that the bastard who’d hurt them would never be able to hurt them or anyone else ever again, or how his son had been so upset and angry over their treatment that he’d sworn to parent them practically on the spot. But just as Max knew when Alan was being serious, Alan, too, knew when Max was being serious as well. So when the lagomorph had said that, he simply nodded his head, and said, “I’m holdin’ ya’ to that.”

“I know,” was all that Max replied.

Now there was a somewhat tense silence in the room that fell over them, leaving the both of them looking away from the other, feeling awkward after the exchange. After about a solid minute of this, Alan looked at the book left on the coffee table. “...Hey.” Max looked over at him, and the Wolfhound looked back, pointing at the book. “Ya’ want any help with these? I know how sometimes ya’ have a hard time focusing.”

Taking this as the cue that they were past the serious, heavier topic, Max gave a small, toothy smile. “Sure,” he said. “Not like I’m goin’ anywhere with  _ these _ li’l guys all over me anyway!”

Alan chuckled in amusement at the statement. “Yeah - suppose not.”

. . .

As Veronica pulled up into the driveway, she looked to her son and said, “I’ll take it in and slip it into your suitcase, alright? Just so he won’t be suspicious.” Sam merely nodded in agreement, before taking the house keys from her and opening up his car door, while she turned towards the backseat and reached for the thing she was referring to - a brown, paper package which contained the dress that she’d helped Sam pick out.

The front door’s lock clicked after Sam had unlocked it, and once it creaked open, Sam called out, “We’re home!”

While Alan had been sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, showing Max the sign for ‘bear’, the pups had immediately woken up at the sound of their dog dad calling from the front door, and before either the Wolfhound or the lagomorph could return the greeting, they were hopping off the couch in their excitement, yapping and racing to meet Sam at the door, their tails all wagging in excitement. And yes, that included MJ as well, who was hopping behind his other siblings as fast as his little legs could take him.

Sam’s mother had been entering just behind him right as the pups began to swarm both of their feet, causing a ruckus. “Whoa!” she exclaimed with a laugh in her voice. “Well, aren’t they excited to see us again.”

“That they are,” Sam commented, before bending down and picking up MJ when the rabbit had hopped right onto his foot, trying to keep him from accidentally getting trampled by his brothers and sisters. This only made the other pups bat at his legs, or stand on their two legs to tug at his pant leg. “No, I can’t carry all of you-” he began to inform them, before being interrupted by his small rabbit son clasping onto his nose with his two, tiny hands, earning an amused chuckle from the dog. After a few moments of the pups’ demands being ignored, they started whimpering, which prompted their father to go, “Okay, alright- c’mon, let’s go see your dad. Er- other dad.”

While he cautiously stepped over them, and led them back towards the living room, Veronica continued forward, eventually heading up the stairs discreetly to put the package in her hands away in her son’s suitcase. As soon as Sam poked his head back into the living room, Max greeted him with a grin and, “Heya, hot stuff!”

“Hey yourself,” the dog replied, returning the smile.

“How were those errands?”

“Uneventful.” His gaze ended up falling onto the book that was open out in front of them, tilting his head to one side. “And what’re you two up to there?”

Alan spoke up before Max could get in a witty remark. “Helpin’ your husband learn sign,” he said. “He’s catchin’ onto it pretty quick.”

“What’d I tell ya’?” the lagomorph said, before placing a hand on his chest and shutting his eyes proudly. “ _ King _ of learnin’ new languages, baby!”

“Learn anything useful?” Sam inquired.

“Well, I’ve figured out ‘bull’ and ‘poop’, so you can only imagine what comes next!”

“I see you still have all the same priorities as ya’ did in tenth grade French, li’l buddy,” he responded to his partner’s joke lightheartedly, shaking his head in amusement. “But if you’re plannin’ on sharin’  _ that _ to our son-”

“Oh, I’d never!” Max replied, batting his eyes innocently.

“Well, I was going to say that if you were, I support your decision, but if anyone who actually knows signs says anything, we weren’t the ones that taught ‘im that.”

“Uh-uh, if our baby cusses someone out, I’m ownin’ up to that!”

“Glad you two have only the most  _ important _ talks,” Alan muttered sarcastically, before grunting quietly as he got to his feet.

“Naturally!” the lagomorph said with a wide grin.

While the Wolfhound took a moment to stretch, his back cracking quietly as he did so. Right as he was about to take a step forward, he found himself being intercepted by Teddy, who was looking up at him expectantly with a hopeful whine. 

He propped his hands on his hips and, looking down at the pup, asked, “Do you wanna be held?” The pup responded by standing up on his two legs and waving his arms at his grandfather. “Alright. C’mere-” He bent over and scooped up the baby into his arms, pressing his nose gently against the pup’s forehead. He felt Teddy’s tail wag, brushing against his arm.

He decided to exit the room, and Sophie and Frank had decided to trot after their grandpa, while Nina and Cab decided to stay behind with their dads and MJ, attempting to climb back onto the couch. As Max shut the book and set it aside, then leaned over to help Nina up, Sam asked with a genuine smile, “So, did you two have a good time, then?”

There was no need to put a damper on that wonderful smile by sharing the details of the discussion he’d had with his father-in-law - he could always save that topic for a later time, when it was necessary. So for now, Max simply nodded. “We sure did! Say, what’d you do with your mom, anyway? Ya’ never said.”

To that, Sam merely shrugged. “She just needed t’ pick up a package, that’s all.”

. . .

Eventually, after a few days spent at the home of Sam’s parents and in the small, relatively quiet town they lived in, it was time for Sam and Max to return to their usual life in the busy, crowded, polluted New York City where people insulted one another just for breathing in their direction wrong.

As Sam shut the DeSoto’s trunk with one hand, his other currently holding onto MJ as he chewed on his toy key, Veronica was placing one last kiss on Cab’s forehead, before releasing him to go back to his other siblings, who were already eagerly waiting in the backseat of the car. She then turned to Max and pulled him into a firm hug, which he gladly returned. When she pulled away, she gave him a warm smile, and said, “You two drive home safely now, alright? And call once you get home.”

“Don’t we always?” Max replied. This earned him a partially amused raised brow, to which he said, “Okay, alright, maybe not. But we’ll try hard t’ remember, promise!”

“You better.” She then got to her feet, and went over to her son to go hug him as well.

Alan, who was standing on the stairs and leaning an arm against the rail, stepped down and approached the lagomorph, which made Max look up at him with a twitch of an ear. “Remember what I told ya’,” he said to him seriously, his brows furrowed slightly.

“And  _ you _ remember what  _ I _ told ya’,” Max shot back.

The Wolfhound continued to eye him sternly, before his expression softened, cracking a smile. He knelt down to be closer to his son-in-law’s level, and embraced him as well. “Like Ronnie said - you stay safe out there, y’hear, boy?”

“We will,” Max said confidently. “I’d say don’t worry about it, but I know that ain’t ever gonna happen with you.”

“Never,” Alan agreed. Max pulled away, and he got back to his feet. “And keep practicin’ with that book, yeah? I know there’s crap like the Internet and all o’ that, but I think readin’ will do ya’ good too, in the long run.”

“Bold of you t’ assume I even know  _ how _ t’ use the Internet,” the lagomorph replied jokingly, earning an amused chuckle from his father-in-law.

“C’mon, li’l buddy!” Sam called, getting both Max and Alan’s attention, their ears perked. “Let’s hit the road while the sun’s still low! You know how much the car stunk when we were all sweatin’ in the heat!”

“Comin’, Sam!” He looked back at Alan, giving him a toothy smile. “Catch ya’ later, Mr. Barkley.” He looked at Veronica and added, “You too, Mrs. Barkley!”

“See you next time, you two!” Veronica replied cheerfully.

With that, Sam hopped into the driver’s side, while Max hopped into the back with the other pups. The DeSoto’s engine revved to life, and shortly after it was backing out of the thin driveway, turning around, and driving off back into the town, starting the long drive back home.

“...Papá?” Sophie spoke, looking up at her lagomorph father.

“ _ Yyyes _ , sweetie?” Max asked pleasantly.

“I forg- forgot the bafroom.”

“...” He immediately looked at the rearview mirror to look at his husband. “Sam?”

“Already on it,” the dog murmured, turning the car right back around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter comes out November 27th!


	14. First Day Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam & Max are hanging out with their lovely kids, when the phone rings for the first time in a while.

The small baby rabbit sat on top of the pile of couch cushions that had been stacked on top of each other to create a sort of tower, chomping away at the apple slices that had been given to him in a bowl, and wearing a crudely made paper crown with what appeared to be yellow crayon scribbled all over it. At the base of this makeshift tower sat Frank, who was dressed in a purple onesie with scale-like patterns on it, wings on the back and a spiked tail that didn’t quite match the rest of the outfit - mostly thanks to Sam sewing it on himself. He had the hood put up, which resembled a dragon head.

Enter Sophie, who came galloping in with a hobby horse and wearing armour made of cardboard which was messily painted grey, with a pot on her head to top it off. She also wore a makeshift holster around her waist, which was made up of an old belt with an old wallet glued to it, which held her most prized possession: Her trusty diamond sword.

She made trotting noises as she entered the living room, before imitating the sound of a horse neighing as she stopped, and exclaiming, “Whoa thewe, horsey!” She then made a bit of a show of ‘getting off’ of the horse, grunting as she moved one foot to the opposite side of the hobby horse in a similar motion to how someone may actually get off of a horse. She then placed it so that it was leaning against the coffee table, before turning to face Frank and planting her feet in what was supposed to be a determined stance. “Drag’n!” she shouted.

Frank, with a big, goofy grin on his face, responded by putting his paws up in what was supposed to be a menacing manner, and shouted back, “ _ Rawr! _ ”

The girl then drew out her plush sword - which also caused the wallet to fall onto the floor since, again, it was only glue holding it on in the first place - and pointed it directly at her brother. “I’m hewe to- to save the pr- the prince! Give ‘im!”

The large pup shook his head in an exaggerated motion, which made his ears flop around and, also, made his hood fly off. “No!” he said defiantly.

“Then I gotta-”

“Wait!” Cab said, interrupting the scene going on and stepping in. “His head came off!”

“It did?” asked Frank, patting his own head. “But I still got it!”

“Your  _ dragon _ head!” Cab replied, sounding mildly annoyed, and proceeding to help his slightly younger brother with his hood.

It had been about a month or two since the pups had gotten to visit their grandparents for the first time, and in the past while, they’d begun to develop certain interests that they’d decided to excitedly pursue:

Nina had begun to take a healthy interest in reading, to which Sam and Max had to provide her with some books appropriate more for her level, since the only other books they had in the house were ones that Maximus and Sameth had collected, a lot of which were far too sophisticated for her to currently understand (though, make no mistake - she certainly still tried to read them regardless).

Cab had taken interest in mechanics, it seemed, for one day, while Sam was working on fixing up the car, the pup had wandered into the garage and, no matter how many times Sam had tried to kick him out, kept wandering back in. Seeing how curious the pup had been, though, he decided to let him stay. Now, the pup liked to try and ‘fix’ the few toy cars they had, and liked to watch his dad fix things whenever given the chance.

Frank’s interest had been with bugs - which didn’t surprise either of his parents, frankly, considering they’d always catch him staring at some butterfly on a leafy or a worm near the ground. He liked to try and catch them, with the intention of keeping them as pets, though he’d yet to be successful. He also seemed to be particularly empathetic towards them, because one time Sophie had decided to snap up a fly and it had instantly made poor Frank bawl his eyes out. Sam and Max had made it a point to try and find him a stuffed toy resembling a bug to gift to him for whenever the next occasion that allowed for gifting things arose.

Speaking of stuffed toys, Teddy seemed pretty fond of them. More accurately, he seemed to be interested in how they were made. Sam had taken up the hobby of needle felting  _ years _ ago, and every once in a while, he’d work on some little soft creation to either give away or keep on a shelf, and recently he’d found that, when working on making a small bunny, Teddy had seemed to watch him with an incredible amount of focus. And just like Cab, the dog allowed his son to watch him while he worked, and even had it in mind to start making them for his kids to appreciate.

For as young as he was, it seemed that even MJ had something that excited him whenever it came up, and that thing appeared to be gardening, which also didn’t surprise either parent too much considering the young rabbit’s love for fruit and veggies. But it hadn’t started with that - rather, it started with Max going out in the backyard to the garden bed that had come with the house and planting some seeds in it, hoping to start growing some vegetables back there. MJ had been with him while he was doing so, and the baby rabbit had seemed plenty happy to play in the dirt while his lagomorph father worked. So, Max had decided to keep bringing him out whenever he went to tend to the garden, and every single time it was clear they were going out to the garden, without fail, MJ would start bouncing around and flapping his hands and hopping up and down in excitement. So it seemed safe to say he loved it.

And as for Sophie - well, if it hadn’t been clear yet, she’d developed an interest in fantasy. Or, rather, the idea of going on adventures. Knights in shining armour, princes in towers, explorers going through ancient tombs to uncover treasure, pirates venturing the seas - she was a huge fan of all of it! And she was an even bigger fan of making props and costumes and getting her siblings to play out these grand adventures with her - which was  _ exactly _ what she was doing right now.

“Okay,” Cab finally said, having fixed his brother’s hood. “Is good now.” With that, he stepped away again.

“As  _ I _ was sayin’,” Sophie said, lifting up her plush sword to point it at Frank once again, “‘M gonna save the prince!”

“Nu-uh, no you’re not!” Frank replied stubbornly, making sure not to shake his head again as to not accidentally risk throwing his hood off again.

“Then we have to- we have to fight!”

With that, she yelled a mighty battle cry, and came at the ‘dragon’, swinging her diamond sword at him, making sword swishing noises with each swing. Meanwhile, Frank was equally as passionate in their ‘fight’, batting his paws wildly with no aim whatsoever and making growling sounds. Both of their faces contained goofy smiles, though, and it was clear that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Just then, however, Nina walked into the scene, also wearing a paper crown which appeared to be coloured with yellow, green, blue and pink highlighter, and loudly shouted, “Hey!” which startled both of her slightly younger siblings, and prompted them to stop ‘fighting’ and look in her direction with perked ears. “What do you think you’re doin’!?”

Sophie and Frank exchanged a glance, then looked back at her. “Uh…” Frank said.

The small pup placed her paws on her hips, giving Sophie an annoyed look. “What are you doin’ with my pet dragon!?”

As soon as she’d said that, Sophie loudly groaned and rolled her eyes, having realized her slightly older sister had decided to insert herself into the story in a way that Sophie had not at  _ all _ been planning. “Nin _ aaa _ ,” she whined. “You’re messing up the- you’re messing up the story!”

Nina frowned at that, allowing her little arms to flop back at her sides. “Why am I messin’ it up? I wanna be a queen with a cool pet dragon!”

To that, Frank now looked annoyed, crossing his arms and plopping onto his rear, making his hood pop off again, and his ‘dragon tail’ thumping against the floor. “I don’t  _ wanna _ be a pet!” he said, giving a  _ hmph _ after making that statement.

“The only r- ro- roy- thewe’s only two kings and one prince!” Sophie explained, frustration in her tone. “Thewe’s no queens!”

“That doesn’t make sense!” Nina argued.

“Of  _ COURSE _ it does!” Sophie went to put her plush sword back in its holster but, upon seeing the actual holding part of it had fallen off, had simply decided to squeeze it into the belt instead.

While she did that, the small pup stubbornly said, “Nu-uh!”

“ _ Yeah- _ huh!” Sophie immediately shot back, then lifted up her hand and put up two fingers. “We have  _ two _ daddies an’ no mama, don’t we!?”

To that, Nina  _ hmph _ ed loudly, and crossed her arms in an almost exaggerated motion. “Fine! If there’s no queens, then I’m not playin’!”

“Fine!” Sophie shot back.

“ _ Fine! _ ”

“ _ Fine! _ ”

“Uh oh,” Sam - who had been recording this whole game with a camera simply because he’d wished to catch the adorableness of it all - said quietly under his breath, leaning down to his husband and murmuring, “This is a li’l awkward.”

Max, on the other hand, had his hands clasped together with a big sharp-toothed smile on his face, and was absolutely enjoying every bit. And when Sam had said that to him, he simply waved a hand at him and said, “It’s a game with li’l kids, Sam, arguments happen!”

“Yeah, but...shouldn’t we, I dunno...intervene?”

“Well, they haven’t started throwin’ hands yet, so I’d say no.”

Sam merely hummed doubtfully.

Obviously frustrated by her slightly younger sister’s attitude to her trying to control the game, Nina started leaving the room, stomping her feet. As soon as she’d walked by the makeshift tower, however, MJ had immediately dropped his half-eaten apple slice back into its bowl, and gave a short whine as he leaned over and extended an arm out towards his oldest sibling, which prompted her to stop to look at him. He then started trying to find a way to climb down the couch cushions, humming while he did so.

“No, MJ!” Sophie protested, going over to the tower she’d made. “You can’t climb- climb down! You’re s’pposed to be saved!”

She lifted him up to get him to sit back onto the cushions, but as soon as she tried to do that, MJ only whined louder, sounding as if he was going to cry out of frustration if she didn’t put him down.

Sophie looked at Nina and said, “You gotta stay! MJ can’t leave, I’ll have no one to- no one to save!”

Nina eyed her for a moment, as if thinking, then said stubbornly, “I’m a  _ queen. _ ”

“ _ Ugh _ , fine!”

“ _ And _ I wanna sit up there!” She pointed directly at the makeshift tower.

“Okay, okay! Whatev’r.”

Nina had a look of smug triumph on her face, and while Sophie put MJ back onto the couch cushions, Nina proceeded to climb up the tower, which made the baby rabbit flap his hands happily. As soon as she was situated on top and comfortably seated, MJ, still flapping one hand, grabbed an apple slice (thankfully  _ not _ the one he’d been eating already) and offered it to his sister.

“Thank you!” the small pup said pleasantly, taking the apple from her baby brother, much to his joy. As she chomped on it, she said to Sophie, “I’m ready!”

Sophie sighed dramatically, but was otherwise glad to just be able to get on with the game. With a determined looking smile on her face, she freed her sword from the belt and pointed it at Frank. “Okay, back to the big fight!”

Frank hopped right back onto his feet as if nothing had happened, his paws bared as if they were claws, and giving a toothy grin, raring to go-

And then the phone started ringing, and everyone seemed to stop and stare at the phone that was on the other side of the living room - including Sam and Max, whose ears were raised to the highest that they possibly could be. And although they hadn’t dealt with the phone for nearly three months now (nine for Sam, if one wished to include the fact that there had been no race to the phone without his li’l buddy around), the primal instinct to attack it was very much there, just barely restrained by the fact that they were currently in the middle of what was essentially a family bonding time.

Only a few heartbeats passed before Max decided to finally speak. “...Well, Sam,” he said quietly, “Since you’re busy recording, I...guess I’ll gET  _ THAT- _ ”

“Hey, HEY,  _ NU-UH! _ ” the dog protested, immediately shoving the camera into his hands and saying, “You cover for me,  _ I’ll _ get i-”

“Nonono-” he shoved it back into Sam’s hands. “ _ I’ll _ get it, ‘cause  _ you _ have the better angle!”

Sam shoved it back. “ _ You _ have the steadier hands!”

“No I d-” he started arguing, before he suddenly found himself being shoved to the floor, hitting it with an  _ oof! _ He quickly got up, shaking himself off to see Sam trying to rapidly make his way over to the phone. “Hey!” he yelled, before abandoning the camera on the floor and flinging himself at his husband, knocking him down to the floor.

“Oh my gosh,” Sophie said over the sound of the phone ringing and their two dads struggling, grunting and, dare it be said, even growling at each other as they wrestled to try and see who would get to the phone first. “The daddies are fighting.”

“Come  _ on _ , Max-!” Sam said through clenched teeth, his husband holding one of his arms hostage, “Just grab the camera, and let  _ me _ answer th-” Without warning, Max opened his mouth wide and chomped right down on the dog’s arm. “ **_A-_ ** ”

Sophie and Frank both grimaced and went ‘ _ ooh! _ ’ in unison. Cab, however, said flatly, “Saw that coming.”

While MJ was more preoccupied with munching on his snack, Nina was swinging her legs on the side of the couch cushions with an amused smile. “The queen and her tiny prince brother are enjoyin’ the fights today.”

“Sam,” Max said, straining against the hand that was currently in his face, “If you don’t let me answer the  _ damn _ phone-”

While he was speaking, Sam’s eyes drifted towards Sophie’s ‘helmet’ which, again, was a metal pot from their kitchen. He then quickly reached out and plucked it from her head, much to her surprise, and with an audible  _ thunk _ he’d bonked Max right on top of his head with it, causing the lagomorph to become momentarily dazed and fall back onto the floor. Sam was quick to get to his feet, but before he went over to the phone, he made it a point to place the pot back on top of his daughter’s head, before patting a hand gently against it. “Thanks, sweetie.”

Sophie merely blinked. “Uh...welcome, daddy.”

As Sam was going over to the phone, he found himself pausing upon hearing the sound of hands rapidly clapping. When he turned, he saw Teddy - who’d been sitting on the cushionless sofa the entire time, watching his family - smiling and applauding, obviously finding the scuffle amusing as well.

Sam couldn’t help but crack a smile and gave a small bow, saying, “Thank you, Teddy.”

Max promptly sat up, shaking his head for a good three seconds before shooting a glare at Sam, putting his hands on his sides. “And how do ya’ know that Teddy’s clappin’ for  _ you? _ ”

“Well, considering I won-”

Before he could finish that sentence, the lagomorph leapt across the room with a shout - a last ditch effort to try and get to the phone. Sam retrieved the phone off of the receiver at the last second, and the result was that Max simply crashed into the wall right behind it, sliding down for a second before flopping down onto the floor.

“Considering I  _ won _ ,” Sam repeated insistently, a proud expression on his features, “I’d say yes. Yes, he is.”

While MJ was busy giggling, finding comedy in the situation, Max peeled himself off the floor once again, and glared up at his husband. “I’m gonna get ya’ for this later. Ya’ better watch out.”

Knowing he was clearly kidding, Sam merely shook his head in amusement, and replied with, “Will do, li’l buddy.” With that, he put the phone to his ear while his partner reluctantly went back over to go and pick up the camera. “Hello?” the dog greeted pleasantly, before his ears perked right up upon hearing the voice on the other side of the line. “Commissioner!” he said abruptly, sounding both surprised and happy to hear the man’s voice after so long.

Max, however, had immediately paused in his picking the camera back up and looked over at Sam with wide, shocked eyes, his ears perfectly straight. “The Commissioner?” he questioned.

Sam merely responded by placing a finger to his lips, trying to focus on what it was their boss was saying. “Yes?” Pause. “... _ Yyyes? _ ” Another pause, with him leaning a hand on the side table that held the home phone, lightly tapping a finger against the wood while he listened, before his ears perked up again, his brows shooting right up. “Great burnin’, smokin’ rubble on the outskirts of Pompeii!” he exclaimed. “We’re on our-”

“ _ Sam! _ ” Max interrupted him very suddenly, catching the dog off-guard.

“What?” Sam asked genuinely while he lowered the phone and covered the lower part of it, not immediately seeing the issue at hand. After all, it was part of his typical routine to say ‘hello’, ‘yes’, some long-winded analogy and ‘we’re on our way!’ in that exact order. So what is exactly what the…?

Max responded wordlessly by gesturing to the pups that were simply standing there, staring and blinking at their canine father, and raised a brow at him.

It took Sam an extra moment to catch on, but as soon as it clicked, he quietly said, “Oh. Right.” He put the phone back to his ear and, with an awkward laugh, he said, “We’ll be there-”

“ _ Saaaam! _ ” Max said again.

Sam lowered the phone quickly again, and shot the lagomorph a mildly frustrated look, his tone reflecting said frustration as he said, “ _ What? _ ”

“We don’t even  _ know _ if we-!” he started saying, and stopped himself just short of the main point he was going to say, because he would have said it in front of the pups and, well, he wasn’t exactly prepared to explain to them what he was talking about if there was a chance it wasn’t even necessary. So, he went over to his husband and motioned for him to lean down. Sam did so, and when he did, Max whispered in his ear, “We don’t  _ know _ if we can get a babysitter yet!”

“ _ Ohhh _ ,” Sam said, also in a whisper. He then raised a brow and said, “Well, what do I tell ‘im, then? It’s probably urgent if he’s callin’ us, it’s not like I can tell ‘im t’ wait.”

“Urgent,  _ shmurgent _ ,” he yell-whispered in response. “We’ve taken  _ hours _ t’ solve cases before, and everything’s turned out mostly fine! I think he can wait for an answer if he’s gotta!”

“I suppose it’s not like we’re just sittin’ and messin’ around like we used to…”

Frank then looked at Nina and asked in a whisper, “Why are we whisperin’?”

“I’unno,” Nina replied with a shrug, equally as quiet.

Sam straightened himself back up again, and finally put the phone back to his ear. “We’ll, uh,” he stammered a bit, never in his  _ life _ thinking that he would actually have to say this, but alas, he had responsibilities as a parent, and naturally, he had to prioritize that over his own job, so he forced himself to say, “We’ll get back t’ you.” He almost cringed after saying that, as if fearful of being reprimanded (which he had no reason to, of course - the Commissioner was a completely laid back guy. But again, he’d never said ‘we’ll see’ to a case before). He paused to listen to the man on the other end of the line’s words, lightly chewing on the end of his thumb. “...No, no, I mean- if we can, we will. I’m just not sure if we...yeah, alright. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Okay. I’ll let you know.” With that, he finally hung up the phone.

A silence fell over the room for a brief moment or two, with all eyes on the dog. “...Who was that?” Cab finally asked out of curiosity, tilting his head slightly to one side.

Sam’s brows raised at his question, and he found himself exchanging a brief glance with Max, who could see that his husband was at a bit of a loss on how to exactly answer that in a way their children would understand. Thus, he found himself looking at Cab and answering with, “Just a friend of ours! You haven’t met him yet, but your dad and I’ve known him for a long time!”

“Oh,” was all the pup responded with. “Okay.”

“Can we get back to- to playing now?” Sophie asked impatiently.

“You sure can, sweetie,” Sam replied with a smile. “Sorry for stoppin’ ya’.”

She merely hummed in response, then raised her ears upon seeing him making his way to the exit of the room. “Hey! Whewe are you- whewe are you going, daddy?” she asked, almost looking shocked to see him leaving.

He found himself pausing in his step suddenly. “Oh. Uh-” He looked at her, flashing her a more nervous smile. “I just have t’ make some phone calls, okay? I’ll be right back - don’t wait up.”

“But if you leave, you’ll miss- miss me savin’ MJ- I mean, the prince!”

“A _ hem _ ,” Nina said, propping her hands on her sides.

“...And Nina too,” Sophie added, although she muttered it.

“No I won’t,” Sam said confidently, then pointed at Max, who was now holding the camera, with his thumb, and said, “That’s why we’re tapin’ it - so that we can watch it back as many times as we have to!”

“ _ Aww _ ,” the girl pup whined, looking  _ very _ disappointed. “But it won’t be the  _ saaame _ …”

The disappointed look tugged hard at his heartstrings, and for a very brief second, the thought to run over to the phone, call his boss back and say, ‘Yeah, sorry, can’t do it’ flashed through his mind. But he swallowed that thought and kept himself from making that impulsive decision. Instead, he walked over to her, got on one knee and patted her head.

“I’m sorry, Soph,” he said. “I don’t got much other choice but t’ catch the re-run.” She pouted at him, and once again he had to fight that urge to just ditch the job and stay home, leaving someone else to clean up whatever mess some criminal had left. “...Tell ya’ what - we’ll watch it together later, alright? That way you can still see my reaction t’ the ending!”

Sophie continued to pout, muttering in response, “Okay, I guess.”

Sam frowned a little at that, then averted his gaze to the side, his expression turning thoughtful as he tried to figure out a way to sweeten the deal. Once he had something in mind, he looked back at her and offered her an admittedly uncertain smile, and said in a tone that sounding more like he was guessing than anything, “We can make popcorn-”

Her eyes immediately lit up, giving a delighted gasp and her tail immediately beginning to wag. She put her two paws together as she asked with joy in her voice, “Can I put- put the- put the chocl’te chippies in thewe again?”

Half relieved and half amused, the dog chuckled. “You sure can, sweetheart.”

“ _ Yes! _ ” she said excitedly, pumping her fists in the air and bouncing on her feet.

His smile widened a bit at her excitement, and lifted up her ‘helmet’ slightly so he could press a small kiss on her forehead, before placing it back the way it was and patting the top of it for a third time, saying, “Have fun - and play nice with your siblings, okay?”

“Okay!” she said happily, and while her father stood back up to head off again, she drew her sword and once again pointed it at her brother. “Let’s go, Frank- I mean, drag’n!” And with that, her and Frank gladly started engaging in their play-fight again.

“Wish me luck, Max,” Sam murmured to his husband, pressing a small smooch atop his head. “Here’s hopin’ no one happens t’ be available.”

“Yeah, hopefully” Max murmured back to him as his husband left the room, before turning his full focus to recording his children’s game.

As soon as the dog had gone up the stairs and entered his room, he shut the door behind him, went over and sat on the bed, and pulled out his cellphone. He scrolled through it, scanning over his contacts and looking at them thoughtfully, trying to mentally sort out which of these people he should call first - or, rather, he supposed, trying to mentally figure out which of these people he could most likely see actually doing a decent job of watching over his rambunctious children. There were two or three people that seemed to qualify, but eventually he made a decision and pressed a thumb down on one of them, and put the phone to his ear as it rang.

It rang a few times before his call was answered, and Sybil’s voice came through on the other end. “ _ What’s up, Sam? _ ” she asked, almost sounding a little surprised that he was calling her.

“Hey, Sybil,” Sam greeted, tugging a little at his shirt collar. God, it felt awkward to have to ask someone  _ else _ to care for his kids - now he was understanding why Sybil always seemed awkward herself whenever asking if him and Max could take care of Georgie. “I, uh - sorry t’ call like this, but I need t’ ask ya’ a favour.”

“ _ Oh, alright. What is it? _ ”

“Well, uh- y’see, the Commissioner just called and presented Max and I with a case that needs done and, well, we can’t just accept and go out and do it since we got the kids, of course.”

“ _ Of course. Iiis this you asking me if I could watch them? _ ”

Almost a little relieved that she asked him rather than vice versa, he said in a small sigh, “Yes - it is. Again, sorry t’ ask so out of the blue, but it wasn’t exactly a call I was expecting...”

“ _ No, no, it’s fine! I totally get it, I mean, it’s happened to me plenty of times. And I’d absolutely love to, but I’m sorta already at work right now. _ ”

“Ah, yeah,” Sam said a little flatly. Guess he shouldn’t have been too surprised by that statement.

She must have figured that his tone was meant to indicate disappointment, because she was quick to start saying, “ _ Well, I mean, if you really need someone to look after them, I suppose you could bring them up here and I could do that. You’d need to give me time to baby-proof a little, first, though- _ ”

“Oh, no. Don’t worry ‘bout all that, that’s not necessary.”

“ _ Are you sure? I don’t want you not being able to do your job just ‘cause of me- _ ”

“No, no, it’s nothin’ like that at all. I can just ask someone else, it’s fine.”

“ _ Okay, but if there isn’t anyone, call me back. Don’t be stubborn. _ ”

“Yeah, sure,” he responded, despite one-hundred percent planning on not calling her back if there was no one else because, again, he was more hoping to  _ not _ have anyone available so that he and Max could have a proper excuse to continue to stay home with their babies. “Take care, Syb.”

“ _ You too, Sam, _ ” she replied. Shortly after, she hung up.

Next on his list had been Mama Bosco, who answered only after a couple of rings. “ _ Hello? _ ” she’d asked, sounding a little distracted.

“Hey Mama B!” Sam replied pleasantly. “I hope I’m not catchin’ you at a bad time-”

“ _ Not at all, hon! What is it you wanted? _ ”

“Well, the Commissioner called us and t’ make a long story short, I sorta need a babysitter. And I’m sorry t’ put ya’ on the spot, but I figured that, y’know, you would be able to handle them.”

“ _ Oh _ ,” she said. “ _...Well, sorry, Sam. I’m sort of in the middle of something right now, and my place isn’t exactly puppy-friendly- _ ” Immediately after she’d said that, there was the sound of something seemingly exploding in the background. “ _ Uh oh! _ ” she exclaimed.

“Is, uh- is everything okay over there?” Sam asked, legitimately concerned.

“ _ Yeah, everything’s fine! But, uh- I gotta go. You’ll have to find someone else. Sorry! _ ”

“No need t’ apologize,” he reassured her. “It’s no problem at-”  _ Click _ . “-All…” He looked at the phone for a moment, with her having hung up on him. He merely gave an indifferent shrug. So she was busy - didn’t make much difference to him. If anything, he was glad for it.

Next up was Flint. “ _ Heeey, Sam-o! What’s goin’ on? _ ”

“Oh, not too much. You?”

“ _ Same old, same old. Wait, hold on, gimme a sec. _ ” Sam heard the man put the phone down on some sort of hard surface, and could hear grunting, as if there were two people getting into a physical fight. When there was a loud yell, followed by the sound of what Sam could only assume was someone thunking against a wall, his ears perked up in some alarm. After a few moments of silence, the phone was picked up again. “ _ Sorry ‘bout that - was kinda in the middle of punchin’ some guy’s lights out when ya’ called. Hey, did you need somethin’, ol’ pal? _ ”

Normally, Sam didn’t give two craps about Flint’s roughing up of his suspects. Hell, it was even fun to watch whenever him and Max passed by his office.  _ Buuut _ imagining the pups in his apartment while he was beating on some guy? Yeah, no. “I’ll be honest with ya’, Flint,” he said, “I was callin’ ‘cause I need someone t’ watch over the li’l ones, but if you’re workin’, then-”

“ _ Oh, yeah, no. You don’t want me watchin’ ‘em right now. _ ”

“Yeah. No offense, but yeah.”

“ _ I’d offer t’ help ya’ later, but I’m guessin’ you’re on a bit of a tight schedule. _ ”

“A little, yeah.”

“ _ Yeeeah. Sorry ‘bout that! _ ”

“No worries! Good luck with your guy. And hey, give ‘im one for me, yeah?”

“ _ Will do! _ ”

Next in his contacts was the number to the curator’s office to the Museum of Mostly Natural History, which was, of course, the contact for Papierwaite and Yog-Soggoth. “ _ Although Yog will be both disappointed and annoyed at me, _ ” the sorcerer responded, “ _ I am afraid that I am currently having a special exhibit installed in the museum and I must oversee its preparation. _ ”

“Oh?” Sam said, curious. “What exhibit is it?”

“ _ Monsters that lurk in the deep, _ ” he stated in a somewhat dramatic tone. He then added in a lower voice, “ _ Yog and his significant other’s anniversary is coming up, and he has been feeling a touch homesick again as of late. I feel as if I owe it to him to make sure the construction goes well. _ ”

“Ah,” the dog said, sympathetic. After all, it had never been their intention to be here as long as they have, and although they rarely complained, Sam could only imagine that, at times, it wasn’t always a pleasant reality to bear. “Well, let us know once it’s ready! I’m sure the kids would love t’ see it.”

“ _ I would be more than glad to! Apologies again. _ ”

“It’s no issue, I completely understand. Thank you for your time.”

Then there was Girl Stinky. “ _ No, _ ” she said.

“Whatever,” was all he replied with, hanging up.

Then Superball. “ _ I’m honoured you would trust the lives of your children to me, sir, _ ” he replied in that same ol’ monotone voice of his, “ _ But I’m afraid that my schedule’s fully booked. _ ”

“Well, it was worth a try.”

After him, the only other person he had available on his contacts that he could possibly think of was the director of...well,  _ many _ shows at WARP TV Studio - many of which he and Max had been a part of, and most of which he, for one, would have personally preferred forgetting about if only because of some of the embarrassing memories that came with it. Perhaps it seemed odd to have her as a contact, despite not having been part of the show biz in years and, frankly, never planning on really returning to it, but there  _ was _ an alternative reason why he did - but that was something that would have to be disclosed later. He was pretty sure he already knew what she would say to this request, but he knew he couldn’t continue with his day without calling her. So he did.

“ _ You’re kidding, right? _ ” is what she said when he brought it up to her - which was exactly what he knew she’d say.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he replied casually, not even bothering to pretend to sound disappointed because he was, in fact, relieved and grateful. “Well, thanks anyway. I won’t waste anymore of your-”

“ _ Wait, no, hold on, _ ” she interrupted with a sigh, making Sam freeze. He could picture her putting a hand to her forehead and shaking her head during the pause she took before saying. “ _ After all the times I’ve asked you to babysit last minute, I suppose I shouldn’t just leave you high and dry. _ ”

“Oh, no, nono, it’s-” he gave an awkward laugh, “It’s fine, I know how important your job is-”

“ _ I’m not saying I’m gonna go over there, _ ” she answered bluntly.

“Oh. But- wait, hold on, ain’t your wife an’ Frankie both usually at work around that time, too?”

“ _ Uh-huh. That’s why I’m gonna send over Darla. _ ”

“Geek?” Sam said, his face immediately lighting up with joy and his ears perking up. After pausing a moment to think about it, however, he found his ears lowering again, his brief excitement shifting into furrowed browed doubt. “But...she’s ten.”

“ _ Uh-huh. And? _ ”

“No offense, Harriet, but ain’t that kinda like leavin’ a cow t’ herd a flock o’ sheep? I mean, I don’t pretend t’ know how old kids can be before they can be left on their own, but-”

“ _ How long do you plan on being out - few hours tops? _ ”

“Yeah, but-”

“ _ She’ll be fine. She can handle it. And if she needs anything, she’s certainly not short of people to call. _ ”

“Well, I kinda hope it doesn’t come to tha-”

“ _ I’ll bring her right over. You have the next nineteen minutes and forty-three seconds and counting to sort out your stuff before I drop her off. _ ”

“That’s very nice of ya’, Harriet, but-”

“ _ Perfect. I’ll see you there. _ ”

“B-”  _ Click _ . The lady had hung up, and Sam was looking at his phone, blinking a few times before heaving a bit of a disappointed sigh. Of all the  _ people _ …

The pups had finished up the game they had been playing before Sam had gone off to make his calls, but were now dismantling the couch cushion tower (thankfully,  _ without _ Nina and MJ sitting on it) and discussing amongst themselves what they should do next.

“We should do pir- pirates next!” Sophie suggested as she removed her fake armour, grinning widely and wagging her tail.

“I wanna play Frankensteen!” Cab protested, ignoring the confused look and head tilt that came from Frank upon hearing what sounded like a very weird version of his own name.

Sophie’s tail stopped wagging at once, her smile falling. “But I can’t use my sword with Franken-Frank-  _ Frank-in-sty _ .”

“But I wanna be a mad ‘sciencetist’!” Cab insisted stubbornly.

“Can’t ya’ mix the two?” Max asked after he’d placed the camera on the nearest shelf for the time being. “Can’t Cab play the mad scientist and make the monster, then you can jab ‘im in the stomach and throw ‘im overboard?”

“Mmm,” Sophie hummed as she thought that over. Eventually, she shook her head with an exaggerated motion that made her ears flop back and forth. “Couldn’t throw Frankinsty overboard.”

“And why not?” her lagomorph father inquired, tilting his head slightly to one side.

“‘Cause if I did, he’d zap all the- all the fishies! And that would just make Frank sad.”

“No, he  _ wouldn’t _ ,” Nina said insistently, standing in front of the cushionless couch after placing MJ beside Teddy. “Frankonstain is the doctor, not the monster!” 

To that, she received an annoyed yap from her slightly younger sister, who was irritated by, what she would claim, Nina’s know-it-all attitude.

“Don’ bark at me, Sophie, I’m right!”

Sophie only yapped at her again, which resulted in Nina yapping back. Soon enough, both sisters were standing on all fours and yapping at each other, before Nina decided to lunge forward, thus starting a chase between her and Sophie.

Sam re-entered the room, and as he did so, he nearly stumbled when his two daughters decided to deftly weave themselves between their legs, exclaiming, “ _ Whoa! _ ” as they did so, making him clutch to the wall for balance. He watched them as they ran around in a circle after each other, then promptly headed down the hall. He could only blink, before looking at Max and asking, “What was  _ that _ all about?”

“The good ol’ Frankenstein-versus-Frankenstein’s monster debate,” Max replied.

“That’s not really a debate-” Sam pointed out, before the pups had decided to rush back down and, while Nina ducked out of the way of him at the last second, Sophie just so happened to hit the back of her leg with her face, making his balance falter again.

The girl pup had to back up with a grumble, and started wiping at her face in a similar manner to how MJ would wipe his to clean himself before shaking herself off entirely. She then looked up at her dog father, blinking a few times, before a smile appeared on her face once again, completely forgetting about chasing her sister all over the house. “You’re back!” she exclaimed happily, standing back on her two legs and tossing her arms up in the air.

Sam couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement, leaning down to pick her up and hold her in his arms. “You’re actin’ like I went somewhere,” he teased, not quite yet realizing the irony of what he’d just said.

“Are we gonna- gonna make the popcorn now?” she asked, wagging her tail rapidly, a highly expectant look in her eyes. Sam’s smile faltered a bit, and before he said anything, he ended up looking towards his husband, whose ears perked up in response. The dog’s reaction was not at all lost on Sophie, and her tail slowly stopped wagging, her smile fading into a look of confusion. “...We’re gonna, right, daddy?”

Now noticing that the other pups were looking at him in confusion, Sam tried his best not to allow his expression to reflect how he really felt in that moment - because if he did, then they would think something was wrong when there really wasn’t. Like Harriet had said, it would just be a few hours, right? ...Right?

“Um…” Sam finally said, deciding to crouch down to the floor on one knee, anticipating the worst in terms of hers and the other pups’ reactions. “We’re gonna have t’ wait on that for a li’l while.”

“Aww, why?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then lifted his gaze from his daughter to Max, and informed him, “Called Harriet - she said she’ll drop Geek off.”

Max’s ears perked up more at that, his brows raising and a brief smile appearing on his features. “Geek!?” he exclaimed excitedly, then - just as Sam had - dropped it once he quickly realized that that meant, despite their hopes, they  _ did _ have a babysitter which meant that they  _ did _ have to go to work. So, his excitement promptly subsided, resulting in him saying flatly, “Oh.”

“Who’s Geek?” Cab asked, sounding both parts curious and incredibly confused, raising a brow.

Sam would have answered, but since he was always giving too much of himself away with his expression, Max decided to answer first. “She’s another friend of ours!” he said to his son pleasantly. “She’s a kid, like you. Well, older than you, but still.”

Frank, who still had his dragon onesie’s hood up, tilted his head to the side. “Is she comin’ over to play with us?”

“If she does, we can have- have more crewmates!” Sophie said, pronouncing crewmates as ‘croom-mates’.

“We’re not playin’ pirates!” Cab replied in annoyance.

The girl pup immediately whipped her head and shot a glare at him, shouting, “Yes we are!”

“Okay, honey, sweetie-” Sam said, placing her onto her two feet and bringing one hand to her shoulder, the other to her cheek as to get her to look at him. “Stop arguin’ with your brother and listen t’ dad, okay?”

She grumbled quietly, but said, “Okay.”

“Your Papa and I have t’ head off somewhere for a li’l bit-”

“Where?” Frank asked.

“Well, uh, it’s a bit of ways away from the house, but it’s not terribly far-”

“Are we all goin’ on a trip?” Cab asked.

“Well, no, but-”

“Then what  _ are _ we doing?” Nina asked, crossing her arms impatiently.

“Look, I’m tryin’ to-!”

“Sam,” Max said, coming to the dog’s side to pat his arm reassuringly, seeing that he was beginning to get flustered with the interruptions and questions. “Let me handle this, babe,” he murmured to his husband. He then turned to look at his kids, bright-eyed and still curious and still confused, but not as likely to interrupt him, and took a small breath through his nose. “Geek is comin’ over t’ keep an eye on ya’ while your dad and I are out.”

The pups went quiet then, blinking and exchanging glances with each other. None of them had seemed particularly concerned or bothered by his statement - except for Nina, whose brows had furrowed in a mildly upset manner that rarely graced her stubborn little features. “...You’re leaving us?” she asked quietly.

Although it was a reaction they sort of saw coming, it still broke the fathers’ hearts to hear, their eyes widening in shock. “Oh, no, sweetie,” Sam was quick to say in an attempt to reassure her. “No, that’s not what we’re-”

“Wait, you’re leaving with-without us?” Sophie asked, quickly pulling away from her dog father and looking at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. It even looked as if there was hurt there. No, scratch that - there was definitely hurt there.

“ _ No _ ,” Max said firmly, “We are  _ not _ leavin’ ya’, okay? We just need t’ go out, and you need t’ stay here.”

Cab had opened his mouth to ask a question with the same amount of curiosity he always had, but Nina, now upset and with tears welling up in her eyes, clenched her hands into fists and stomped her foot, and demanded, “ _ Why!? _ Why can’t we come with you!?”

“Because,” the lagomorph explained, trying to remain calm despite each word from his kids so far had just been blow after blow to his chest, “It’s grown-up stuff. It’s not safe for kids-”

He was interrupted by the whining of MJ, who was only now getting upset as well since Nina had started shouting. This had created what could only be described as a sort of ripple effect, as the baby rabbit’s crying had elicited sympathetic whimpers from the other pups, which also led to their own eyes beginning to water.

“Uh oh,” Max murmured, before promptly going over to the couch to pick MJ up off the couch to comfort him. As soon as he reached out to the small rabbit, however, his hand was immediately met with MJ striking at his hand, biting it with his small buck teeth. The lagomorph hissed in pain, but paid no attention to it as he picked up his son anyway, and tried to comfort the crying baby.

“Look, sweetie, we won’t be gone for long, okay?” Sam said reassuringly to Nina. “We’ll be back before you even know, and when we are back, we can have snacks and-”

“ _ Nooo! _ ” Nina said stubbornly, as she always did when she was simply too upset or frustrated to say anything else, and ran right towards her dog father and wrapped her little arms around him, clutching at his shirt tightly, burying her face right in it and sobbing her little heart out loudly.

This loud cry had prompted Sophie to also burst into tears, and copy her slightly older sister, crying, “Don’t go,  _ daddyyy! _ ”

Shortly after that, Frank and Cab had also burst into tears, and Teddy, though not as vocal as his other siblings, was whimpering loudly, on the verge of howling. To put it simply, Sam and Max were now two anxious but caring parents with a  _ lot _ of upset puppies - and both their hearts ached for their little ones, with Sam’s chest illuminating with sympathy for them.

It was soon clear that there was no way to console them through words, Sam eventually exhaled patiently, looked to the other children that weren’t already embracing him, stretched out an arm towards them and murmured, “C’mere.”

The boy pups did not hesitate to run forward towards their father and hug him alongside their sisters. MJ, in Max’s arms, started making grabby hands towards his siblings upon seeing them all go over there, and with his own patient sigh through his nose, Max went over, and hugged his family with one arm the best he could, holding the baby rabbit - who had leaned forward to grab onto Sam’s nose - in the other. They all remained like that, allowing the kids to get their initial shock and sadness out of their system. After all, it was tough being little - especially when they had a history such as theirs.

Eventually, their loud sobs had quieted to long, drawn out whines that occasion bubbled into a small hiccup. Once they were quiet enough that their fathers’ voices could be heard, Sam tried again quietly, “We won’t be long, we promise.”

“But  _ why _ do you gotta go?” Frank asked through his tears, giving a wet sniff.

“Well, there are people out there who need our help,” he explained gently, “And we gotta do what we can t’ help ‘em.”

“Like us?” Cab asked, looking up at him with those big, heterochromia eyes.

Sam had felt a lump build in his throat at that, finding it both saddening and sweet at the same time. Max had to be the one to answer, “Yeah, kiddo. Just like you.”

“Does that mean, we’re- we’re gonna get more of us?” inquired Sophie, ‘more of us’ being her way of asking if they were going to get more brothers and sisters.

Max couldn’t help but laugh a little in amusement. “No,  _ mija _ . Or, well, maybe. If it happens t’ come up-”

“ _ Maaax _ ,” Sam said in an almost reprimanding tone, though he, too, had a smile of amusement on his face.

“We’re not plannin’ on it,” was Max’s final answer. He received no response, but, upon noticing Nina lowering her gaze to the floor, leaned forward a little to place a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s as your dad said - we’ll be back before ya’ know it.”

“And when we do,” Sam said, bringing a hand to wipe away at the tears on Sophie’s face with his thumb, “We’re gonna watch your guys’ game and eat  _ aaall _ the popcorn.” He placed a small kiss on Sophie’s nose, and added, “ _ With _ chocolate chippies.” Sophie could only offer him a sad smile, before leaning back into him for a hug. “...Say, Max,” he said, exchanging a look with his husband. “Why don’t you call the Commissioner back? I’ll take MJ and handle these guys...”

Max merely flashed a toothy grin, and while handing his baby to his partner, said, “Thought you’d never ask, Sammothy.”

. . .

To give a background to Sam and Max’s relationship to Harriet and Darla (who called herself ‘Geek’, so to respect her wishes, Sam and Max also called ‘Geek’) and this ‘Frankie’ person: Sam and Max had first met Harriet Gugenheek in 2010 at WARP TV Studios during their case involving Myra Stump, which had been one of many that had been part of a larger hypnosis conspiracy, and had gotten to know her during their short-lived TV career. Harriet had a wife, and an adopted daughter, who was Geek herself. Geek also had a third guardian involved, by the name of Frankie - a Russian Wolfhound whom of which Sam and Max had actually known and were somewhat close to during high school, but hadn’t seen or spoken with until shortly after meeting Harriet. Frankie was not part of a relationship with Harriet, but rather someone who acted as an alternative guardian for whenever Geek’s main two adoptive parents were unavailable, since they led such busy jobs and lives.

To make a long story short, Harriet had been in need of a babysitter, because Frankie had a last minute appointment to attend, and the babysitter had called in sick. Frankie had put in a good word for the pair, and despite Harriet’s reluctance, she had allowed the two to babysit her then-two-year-old daughter. The dog and lagomorph became unofficial alternative guardians to her themselves, and the rest was pretty much history - whenever the first three options weren’t available, Sam and Max were almost always there to pick her up and watch her until she could be picked up and brought home. And, sure, maybe they’d accidentally gotten her roped into a mess one, three, possibly more times, but hey, that wasn’t information that needed to be shared, right?

At this current time, Geek was ten. Smart, confident, and pretty darn sarcastic. And only about ten minutes after her mother had hung up the phone on the dog, the girl’s note-taking and pseudo-experimentation had to be put on hold since she was being picked up, and now she was sitting in the backseat looking out the window and lightly plucking at the bottom of her shirt while her mother rambled rapidly while driving.

“...And remember, if anything comes up, you call, alright?” Harriet said. When Geek responded only with silence, she said, “What was that?”

“Alright,” the girl answered, monotone.

“And be careful with the kids,” Harriet continued on. “They’re only little.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that.”

“Was it? Sorry, hon - I’m a little frazzled today.”

“When are you  _ not _ frazzled?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. There is a huge difference between ‘I drank two cups of coffee within an hour’ frazzled and ‘everyone at work is being an idiot’ frazzled.”

Geek merely hummed in response, right before the wheels of the car squealed to a halt in front of a house with a gate and fence in front of it. She looked out of the opposite window to see it. “Is this their new house?” she asked.

“Apparently so. Not bad, huh.”

“Looks pretty old.”

“Yeah, well, none of us are exactly spring chickens,” Harriet murmured, before turning so she was facing the backseat. “C’mere,” she instructed. Geek unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward, and once she did, her mother placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “I might be off late, but your mother should be ready the usual time. If not, there’s always Frankie.”

“Or I could always get Sam to drive me,” Geek suggested, in a somewhat smart-aleck fashion.

“That too. I’ll see you later, sweetheart-” as Geek was opening the car door that led to the sidewalk, she said quickly to her, “Love ya’, kiddo!”

“Love you too, mom,” she replied. And with that, she shut the car door behind her, and as she took a few steps towards the gate of the house, the car behind her took off.

The girl looked up at the older house as she opened the gate, entered, then closed it behind her. It still looked pretty rickety, but she supposed it was better than it looking condemned. She took the stairs leading onto the porch, went up to the front door, and knocked her knuckles against it three times before waiting. Shortly after doing so, she could hear the sound of the lagomorph’s feet slapping against the floor even before he opened the door, and greeted her instantly with a sharp-toothed smile. “ _ Heeey _ , kiddo!”

“Hey, Max,” Geek greeted back, giving him a half-smile in return.

“So sorry t’ do this to ya’, Geek - really, we are. Hope we weren’t pullin’ ya’ away from your homework or something.” He said the last part jokingly, and winked.

“I never have homework,” was all she said in response to that. “Where are they?” ‘They’ being the pups.

“They’re inside, snugglin’ up to their father,” he replied, stepping aside to let her enter - and, coincidentally, allow her a full view of Sam lying on his stomach with the pups all either lying at his side or right on top of him. MJ was sitting right on his muzzle. “They’re, uh, not too happy ‘bout us headin’ back t’ work. I’m sure you get it.” She hummed before entering. As he shut the door behind her, he said, “So, uh- y’know. If they’re a li’l moody, then sorry for that.”

“Not like you can do a lot about it,” the girl replied, catching Sam’s and the pups’ attention with her words. Soon as she noticed the dog looking over, she waved. “Hey.”

“Hey, Geek,” Sam said, his words more of a slight mumble thanks to a baby rabbit sitting atop his muzzle. Speaking of which, he looked over to Nina, and said to her, “Could you take MJ, please?”

Nina got up off of her father’s back and removed her baby brother from her dog dad’s nose as requested, earning a small whine from the small rabbit, though he wasn’t too vocal beyond that. While the other pups got up to allow for Sam to get up, Nina said to him, “Please don’t go, daddy. I don’t want you to go.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he replied quietly. “But I gotta.”

“But why? Why can’t someone else do it?”

“Because,” he said, lightly booping her nose with his fingertip, “No one can do it better than your dads.” She lightly whimpered in response, so he pressed the front of his muzzle on the top of her head and said, “I love you.”

“Love you too, daddy,” she murmured. The other pups also mumbled their own ‘Love you toos’ as Sam fully got to his feet, readjusting his tie.

“There’s microwavable stuff in the fridge,” Max was informing Geek, “The pups can share it with ya’. If MJ - he’s the rabbit - if he gets hungry, there’s baby food, and there’s fruits and veggies in the fridge, so you don’t have t’ worry about fiddling with a bottle or anything.”

The girl nodded in understanding, saying, “Alright.”

“If anything comes up, just call, I’ll come right back within a second. Oh! And if MJ gets fussy, he’s got a blue key-looking toy he can chew on, and if ya’ can’t find Cab - he’s the one with the blue eye - then look under the fridge first. There’s a skittle under there he’s been starin’ at lately, and he’s tried t’ get it, so-”

“Max,” Sam finally said, cutting his husband off and placing a hand on the lagomorph’s shoulder, making him look up with a surprised look and perked ears. “We gotta go.”

Max merely stared up at him for a moment, his nose twitching, before he sighed, murmuring, “Yeah, you’re right.” He then looked over to his kids and gave them a smile and said, “Love ya’, kids! We’ll be back soon.”

Sam patted the girl’s shoulder, and said, “Take care, Geek - this shouldn’t take long.”

She refrained from making a sarcastic comment of ‘yeah, right’ given the pups’ previously mentioned sensitivity to the current situation, and simply replied with, “See you later, guys.” With that, Sam grabbed his jacket and hat off of the nearby coat rack, and the duo left through the front door, and shut it behind themselves.

The dog and lagomorph found themselves standing awkwardly on their front porch, with both of them heaving a side. “Whatever you do,” Max said quietly, “Don’t cry, Sam.”

“Speak for yourself, bonehead,” Sam shot back, adjusting his jacket by the lapels. “Let’s just hope these bastards make this worthwhile and fun, yeah?”

“If they don’t,” Max said, “Then that’ll be  _ definitely _ concerning.”

Nina had decided to sit over by the sliding door that led to the backyard with MJ in her arms, and peered at an angle that allowed her to see the strip of road that was visible from that spot. Her other siblings joined her just in time to see the DeSoto driving down the road, eventually disappearing around the corner. The baby uttered a low whine, to which Nina responded by nuzzling his cheek with his muzzle.

Geek looked at the rather unhappy puppies, not entirely certain how to approach them. She decided to turn her attention to the living room, noticing the couch cushions on the floor and the pieces of painted cardboard and paper crowns that were set aside on top of them. She decided to pick up the tiny paper crown with yellow crayon scribbled all over it, turning it over in her hands. She then looked back at the pups and, in an attempt to try and make a little conversation, asked, “Did you guys make these yourselves?”

The pups all turned to look at her with relatively blank, blinking expressions - with the exception of Nina, who looked at her with annoyed furrowed brows. The small pup then decided to take her baby rabbit brother, and leave the room with a huff.

The girl’s gaze could only follow Nina and MJ as the two left, before murmuring, “Good talk…”

The remaining siblings watched as their oldest and youngest left, then proceeded to exchange glances with each other. With a whimper, Cab decided to take off on all fours past Geek and out of the room as well, rushing down a hall as fast as his stubby little legs could take him. Before she could even call after him, she noticed a flash of light out of the corner of her eye, and by the time she looked back to look at Sophie, Teddy and Frank, she found that they had randomly vanished completely.

She blinked several times, and the only thing keeping her from considering it completely strange was the fact that she knew that Max was able to pull off the same thing - a flash of light, and then poof, gone without a trace. She couldn’t help but groan though, and mutter, “Thanks guys - not like tellin’ me they could do that was important to know or anything.” With a heave of a sigh, she began walking down the hall that Cab had just gone down, and called, “ _ Guys? _ ”

. . .

When the Freelance Detectives (the two had officially agreed that that was what they were calling themselves from now on, finding the word ‘police’ to be a touch too misleading and confusing for others, especially in the modern day) had arrived at their case, they had immediately been greeted with a shootout, and now found themselves shielded behind some busted up old car, trying to hold out just long enough until their shooters were so focused on blasting the car, they wouldn’t even notice the dog and lagomorph sneaking away.

“Might wanna act a li’l more enthusiastic, Max,” Sam advised after ducking behind the old, rusted car after shooting off a couple of rounds. He added jokingly, “Our reputation’s on the line more than our health right now.”

“Sorry, Sam,” Max apologized, idly taking the magazine to his luger out and popping it back in, only to pull it out again. “Guess I’m just a li’l distracted right now.”

“Yeah, I hear that, li’l buddy. My shot’s usually lousy, but now I’m actually hittin’ my shots.” With that, he fired another couple of rounds, and managed to hit a small canister, which audibly exploded with a loud  _ bang _ , causing the men on that side to yell in fright.

As the dog ducked down again, Max looked at him, and said, “Ain’t I usually the one that’s meant t’ use humour t’ cope, Sam?”

“Usually, but it looked t’ me like you were actin’ as the homesick, worried parent, so naturally I assumed that meant I had t’ be the witty one that’s kraken’ jokes t’ hide the fact that he misses his kids. We can switch back if ya’ want, though.”

“Mm, no, I think I’ll wait a li’l t’ switch until I feel a li’l less like living, breathing mush, thanks.”

“Suit yourself, babe. If ya’ ain’t gonna use that gun, though, mind if I take it? Would love t’ see if I could get someone between the eyes with a smaller shot.”

“If I give it to ya’, how the hell am I supposed t’ spontaneously switch from longing parent to vengeful father, hellbent on wreckin’ everyone’s shit and thirstin’ for blood?”

Out of the things listed there, the only question Sam had was “What are ya’ avengin’ exactly?”

“The valuable time lost with my beautiful children thanks t’ these schmucks.”

“Fair enough, li’l buddy, fair enough.”

. . .

“Guys, come on!” Geek called to the pups as she returned back to the living room, having searched several parts of the main level of the house but finding absolutely none of the children she was meant to be caring for in any of the rooms. At this point, she was convinced they were actively hiding from her, moving around just out of her sight.

She huffed, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head. If this was some sort of game they were playing to try and get her to call their lagomorph father and get him to come back, it wasn’t going to work with her. She’d find them. Eventually.

The girl decided to go back into the kitchen, and looked under the fridge for a second time, where Max had told her one of them may be (the first time she’d looked under there, she took the time to sweep out that gross old skittle), and, when she found nothing, started looking through the top cupboards again, trying to ignore the amount of garbage food that was in there.

Just as she opened a cupboard door with what she could only assume were knock-off Twinkies inside, she heard the sound of crying, which startled her enough for her to let go of her grip on the cupboard’s handle, resulting in there being a small  _ thunk _ as wood smacked against wood. She made it a point to listen closely, however, so that she may pinpoint where the sound was coming from. After brushing her hair aside to cup a hand around her ear, she was almost certain that it was coming from upstairs, which she hadn’t considered checking. It also sounded as if maybe the baby rabbit was the one crying, so she decided to momentarily look around, spotted the bananas left on top of the fridge, and grabbed one before heading up.

Her judgment on where the crying was coming from ended up being correct, because once she reached the upper level of the house, she could hear the crying a little more clearly. When she continued following the noise, she found herself at a door that was opened just enough for a puppy to slip through. She quietly pushed it open, and found herself at what she assumed was Sam and Max’s bedroom. On the large bed in the room, she saw there was a blanket - with a large, moving lump in it. She approached it, and carefully lifted it up to reveal the pups huddled together underneath, with a crying MJ huddled by Nina’s side.

“Is he okay?” Geek asked, figuring that was the first thing she should check.

“ _ Mhm _ ,” Nina hummed, sounding annoyed - probably at the fact that she had found them and was ‘intruding’.

The girl looked at him herself just to be sure, but he didn’t appear hurt at all. Just upset. “Is he hungry?” she asked next, before holding up the banana she’d grabbed. “I brought food for him. Your dad said he eats fruit.”

The pups did not respond, but the baby rabbit, whose eyes had been screwed shut while he cried, had opened his eyes enough to see the fruit in her hand. Though he still whimpered quietly, he moved away from his spot beside his eldest sister, his nose twitching. Geek decided to peel the banana, break off a piece then offered it to him. The little rabbit took it, and, with tears still in his eyes, ate away at it, mumbling, “Num, num, num.”

While the baby rabbit ate away at his banana piece, the girl looked back at the other pups, and asked, “What’re you guys all doing up here?”

“...We’re tryin’ to nap,” Sophie mumbled, “Until our- until our daddies come back.”

“Well, that’s not really exciting.” She received no response from the pups, but she saw Cab bury his face in Frank’s side. “...You guys really miss ‘em, huh?”

“Uh-huh…” Frank said quietly, resting his head on his paws.

“Mm, yeah, I get that.” She tossed the blanket off of them fully, before taking a seat beside them. “We’re kinda in the same boat, y’know.”

“How?” Nina demanded, squinting her eyes at Geek doubtfully.

“Well, you don’t see  _ my _ parents around, do you?” Nina only responded by continuing to stare at her with narrowed eyes, before eventually looking away, as if silently conceding that she had a point. MJ had already finished his banana piece, and was already babbling and making grabby hands towards his babysitter. While she broke off another piece to feed him, she said, “It was hard when my parents first had to go back to work, too. It sucked a lot, actually. But you know, your dads wanna be home with you guys just as much as you want them to be home.”

“So why did they leave?” Sophie asked. “We wanted ‘em to stay…”

“Can’t say I blame you. But just like your dad was saying - they’re the best at what they do, and there’s a lot of bad guys out there that need stopping.”

The girl pup’s curved ears raised a little at that, her head tilting curiously to one side. “B-Bad guys?” Her tail started wagging, excitement starting to seep into her body language. “They beat up bad guys!?”

“‘Course they do, they’re detectives. Didn’t they tell you?”

“We didn’t know they- they had a job!”

Geek furrowed her brows at that a little, then gave a shrug, murmuring, “Fair enough.” She then said to them, “C’mon, why don’t we do something fun? That way if you take a nap, it’ll be a little less dreary than fallin’ asleep in this dark room.”

Cab had decided to remove his face from Frank’s side, and asked, “What’s ‘dreary’?”

Understanding he was asking what dreary meant, she replied, “It means depressing.”

“An’ what’s ‘depw- depress-ing?”

“It means sad.”

Teddy then sat up and, with a pointed index finger, made a semi-circle motion before pressing the side of his hand to the left side of his chest, then took it and drew a line from his forehead to his nose.

Geek understood enough ASL to know the first sign was ‘we’, but the second sign was something unknown to her. Knowing Sam and Max, though, (especially the latter), it was likely some form of Spanish sign language she hadn’t familiarized herself with. “What is he saying?” she asked politely.

“He’s saying  _ we’re _ sad,” Nina confirmed.

“Aw, but you don’t want your dads to come back and think that you were sad the whole time they were gone, do you?”

The Mastiff pups all looked at each other, before looking down and saying quietly in unison, “No…”

"Then come on! Let’s go downstairs and, I don’t know, we can watch cartoons or something if you guys aren’t up for really playing right now.”

Again, another glance was exchanged between themselves; and, in fact, they had decided to shift their positions so that they were forming a close, little circle - a  _ puppy huddle, _ if you will - before turning back to look at her. “We like Roadrunner,” Nina said, deadpan.

“Dang, you really are like your dads,” Geek murmured, recalling all the times she’d been over and watched those older cartoons with them for almost the entire time, before giving another shrug. “If it’s on, then yeah, sure. Whatever you want.”

“ _ And _ ,” the small pup said sharply, pointing her paw right at the girl, “We want Twinklies.”

Geek would have legitimately thought that the pup was simply mispronouncing ‘Twinkies’ if not for the fact that she had  _ just _ spotted the box in the cupboard right before coming up there. She raised a brow at them. “Are you allowed to eat those?”

“Sometimes,” Nina said, crossing her little arms.

“I thought we were allowed if we had dinner fir-” Cab started saying, before his fellow dog siblings turned to him and shushed him, making him throw his paws up to cover his muzzle.

MJ was making grabby hands towards the girl, so she broke off another piece, murmuring, “Last one, okay?” After handing it to him and allowing him to eat it happily, she simply looked back at them, still raising a brow. “Only allowed after dinner, huh?”

“Only sometimes!” Nina replied stubbornly.

“Well, I don’t know. Wouldn’t wanna go against what your dads want…”

“ _ Nooo, pleeease? _ ” the small pup begged.

Geek found herself nearly laughing in amusement. Partly because they were genuinely cute, and the other part because she could practically picture Sam looking at those big puppy eyes and caving despite the ‘no dessert before supper’ rule that was meant to be in place. “Okay, look,” she said, “I’ll tell you what - if your dads aren’t back by dinner, then I’ll make you what _ ever _ you want.  _ Then _ we’ll see about those Twinklies, okay?”

The pups generally had seemed to perk up at her saying they could have whatever they wanted for dinner, but Teddy especially. “Chicken?” he asked, tapping his index finger and thumb together.

Given the context, Geek was able to guess what he’d meant - but Sophie decided to inform her anyway, “He’s askin’ for chicken- chicken nuggets.”

“Perfect,” the girl said, “Works for me. Now c’mon, let’s get you guys downstairs.”

She had attempted to reach for the baby rabbit, but Nina immediately wrapped her little arms around him instead, earning a brief, annoyed mumble from him before he continued ‘num num num’ing away on his snack. “We can get down just  _ fine _ ,” Nina said insistently, furrowing her brows at her babysitter.

Geek merely raised her hands, showing that she wasn’t going to touch any of them. “Alright. If you do need help, just say, okay?”

All Nina did was give a small  _ hmph _ before sitting up, and scooching forward until she was hopping off of the bed, waddling out of the room with her baby brother in her arms. Shortly after, her siblings were following behind her, and Geek followed behind them, shutting the bedroom door behind her.

. . .

Just as Geek had suggested, all of them were relaxing on the couch (which Geek had put the cushions back on for a more comfortable seat) and watching older cartoons on the TV, and had been for the past thirty-five minutes or so now. Now that the pups seemed mostly distracted from the current absence of their fathers, and had a chicken nugget supper to look forward to, they seemed a little less melancholy about the whole situation.

While they were watching, Geek had searched for some paper and art-related utensils, figuring that she could work on a blueprint for one of her projects at the coffee table while she was here. MJ had seemed pretty interested in what she was doing, so she gave him some paper, along with some crayons and markers (which, given that he was colouring on the floor, she’d probably have to wipe the floor later to make sure no marker stains were left behind), and let him go to town.

She was eventually snapped out of her focus of roughly sketching an armature when she felt a tap on her arm, which prompted her to look over and see Cab standing right there. “I need to go to the bafroom,” he informed her.

“Alright,” she replied, setting aside her pencil and pushing herself up to her feet. She figured it wouldn’t be wise to let one puppy wander off at the risk of them getting into something they weren’t supposed to. She looked to the other pups, pointed at MJ, and said, “Watch him and stay outta trouble ‘til I get back, alright?”

“Mhm,” most of them hummed in near unison, clearly more focused on the TV. Taking a quick look at MJ, he seemed to be pretty wrapped up in his drawing - which looked like a bunch of scribbles while also kind of looking like Nina, Max and a bunch of strawberries - so she figured that he’d be okay being left with only his other siblings for a quick minute or two. Certainly wasn't as if the little guy wouldn’t let the world know if he needed something, anyway.

The girl followed Cab down the hallway that led to one of the bathrooms and while he entered and shut the door behind him, she waited in the hall, leaning her back against the wall. She then caught sight of some framed photos on the wall, and, seeing as this was the first time she had been inside their new house, she allowed her curiosity to take over and wandered over to them.

The photos here appeared to be mostly older ones. In fact, she even recognized at least one from back when they actually lived in their office. A little fun fact that was worth sharing; she had been about four when the President Maximiliano Monster Incident of 2012 had gone down in New York City, so at this age, she couldn’t actually recall the time when Max hadn’t had green spots and bright pink eyes, or when Sam hadn’t been a sort of spectre. The only time she ever saw them prior to was in old photographs such as these. There was also an old, black and white photo of an older lagomorph and dog, both with mustaches and wearing semi-formal clothing that was more appropriate to the 40s. Older relatives of Sam and Max, no doubt.

She eventually heard the sound of a toilet flushing, shortly followed by the tap running. There was a brief pause of silence, which she assumed was due to him wiping his hands- and then she heard the sound of metal clattering on tile, which had made her head snap from the photographs over to the wooden bathroom door. She could hear the small pup exclaim “Uh oh!” from the other side of the door.

This prompted her to quickly go over to the door, not so much worrying about whether or not he had broken anything, considering how often Sam and Max broke their own things around their home, but more worrying about whether or not the pup had hurt himself. She tapped her knuckles against the door. “Hey, are you okay in there?”

The boy pup opened the door at once, looking up at her with wide eyes, holding a hand to his mouth as he quickly said in a panic, “It-it was an accident! I didn’t mean to-”

“Whoa, hey, no, it’s okay,” she reassured him, with her hands held up as a signal for him to relax. “You’re not in trouble. Are you hurt or anything?”

“Mm-mm,” he hummed, shaking his head with his hand still pressed to his mouth nervously.

The clatter must have reached the ears of the children just down the hall, because soon enough they were gathering around the end of the hallway, alarm clear in their eyes. Even MJ had apparently decided to hop along with his siblings, deciding he’d take his drawing with him and hold it in his mouth. “What happened?” Sophie asked, concerned.

“We’re about to find out,” Geek told them, before walking past Cab and into the bathroom.

The pups decided to gather in front of the bathroom door as the girl looked at where the hand towels were hung up, before accidentally tapping her toe against something. She looked down, and saw there was a large grate intended to cover a vent on the tile floor. Right in front of it was a dark opening, illuminated only by the light in the bathroom. She moved the grate aside, and took a look into the opening. It appeared as if there were stairs leading down to some sub-level.

“Looks like a basement,” the girl murmured to herself, finding this random discovery to be fascinating.

“What’s that?” Cab asked. He and Sopher were the only ones really curious about it to the same degree as Geek was - all the other pups seemed a little intimidated by the dark opening.

“It means there’s another floor to your house, and these are the stairs that go right to it,” she explained. She then looked at them, and asked, “Do your dads know about this?”

“Nuh-uh,” Sophie replied.

She cracked a smile at them. “Wanna take a look?”

“Nuh-uh!” Nina protested, at the same time Sophie was yelling, “Yeah!”

“Hey, it’ll be alright!” Geek said. “I’ll be with you guys the whole time.” Frank and Teddy appeared doubtful, and MJ pressed himself into Nina’s side, whining lowly. 

The girl looked back at the opening, giving it a thoughtful expression, before deciding to feel along the walls, ignoring the fact that she knew darn well she was getting dust on her fingers right now. When she didn’t feel anything there, she started feeling along the low ceiling. She eventually found what felt like a small panel, and shortly after, felt a small dip in it that she could hook her finger into. So she did, and by doing that, she opened up the small panel, and out came a string. Without a second thought, she decided to pull on it. There was a clicking sound, and immediately after, several lights started turning on above the stairs, thus making them much easier to see and not quite as ominous looking.

“See?” she said, looking back at the pups again and gesturing to the stairs. “Nothin’ to worry about!” Though those few pups didn’t seem as frightened as just a few moments ago, they still seemed hesitant. “Here, I’ll lead the way. If you wanna follow me, then go ahead. If you don’t, then go back to watching cartoons.”

While their babysitter decided to start descending the stairs, Nina looked at Sophie and Cab, and ordered, “Don’t go down there!”

Cab’s ears pinned back a little at that - but Sophie merely furrowed her brows and frowned, and shot back, “Don’t be chicken!”

“I’m not chicken!” Nina said defensively.

“Wha’ev’r,” Sophie replied in a mumble, then said to her brother, “C’mon, Cabbie, let’s g-go.” With that, she started trotting on all fours after Geek. Cab hesitated at first, looking from Sophie to Nina, before deciding to follow behind Sophie after all.

Nina was frowning deeply, and humming in annoyance, mostly at her sister’s comment. Eventually, she gave an indignant huff, then muttered, “Stay with me, MJ.” With that, she started following behind as well, with the baby rabbit loyally hopping along with her. The remaining two were not far behind.

The stairs were old, and incredibly creaky, making a noise under even MJ’s weight, but they were sturdy, and the rail was still well fastened to the wall. The wallpaper on the walls were yellowed and peeling away, revealing wood underneath that had holes in it - likely from bugs or animals finding their way down and chewing through. It was also incredibly dusty and dirty, and some of them found themselves sneezing thanks to the debris getting right up their noses.

“It’s too dusty down here,” Nina complained.

“ _ Shhh! _ ” Sophie shushed sharply. “I think we’re- we- I see the bottom!”

Indeed, they were reaching the bottom of this stairway, which felt like it had been going on forever to the small puppies. As Geek reached the bottom, her shoes touching the concrete floor, she went to turn the corner, only to find that the room was entirely pitch black.

“It’s like a cave…” Frank murmured. “I wonder if a dragon’s in here.”

“Thewe _ is _ a drag’n in hewe!” Sophie said, her tail wagging a little.

Frank’s eyes widened, his head turning every which way. “Where?” he asked in a slight alarm.

She then booped his nose with her paw. “You!”

The larger pup blinked, staring at the end of his nose for a moment or two before cracking a big smile. “Oh, yeah!”

“There’s gotta be a way t’ light this,” Geek murmured to herself, holding her hand to her chin and raising a brow in thought. She looked around for a brief moment, and at first found nothing - then did a quick double-take to her left. There appeared to be some sort of lever attached to the wall. She walked over to it, and, without a second thought, pulled it down.

The room lit right up, the lights surprisingly bright despite how old they probably were given the age of everything else in the house. It revealed a large room with metal walls, peppered with rust, several metal tables in roughly the same condition, and - and this surprised Geek the most - a bunch of old, dusty beakers, bunsen burners, scales and various tools that were hung up on the wall. It appeared to be some sort of lab.

The pups - including Cab and Sophie - immediately broke out into surprised whimpers, huddling together closely, staring at this homemade lab with wide, frightened eyes. “Whoa…” Sophie said quietly, trying to mask her fear and failing. “Thewe was...a  _ wiz’rd _ down hewe…”

“Why is all this stuff down here…?” Geek murmured to herself, being genuinely curious and fascinated rather than scared like the other kids. And while they remained huddled together, she started approaching the tables to go investigate the equipment on top of them.

Sophie - who always brought her trusty diamond sword with her wherever she went - brought out the plush sword and held it out warily in both of her hands. “It’s- it’s okay,” she said to her siblings. “Stay b’hind me, guys. I c’n- I c’n-” Before she can finish her statement, Cab was already breaking from the huddle to follow after their babysitter. This made Sophie’s ears - along with her other siblings’ ears - raise in some alarm. “Cab, no-!”

“Hey,” the girl said, stopping and turning to look directly at the girl pup. “It’s alright, guys. Nothing’s gonna happen to you down here, I promise.”

Of course, she had no idea the sort of thing that the pups had gone through during the beginning of their lives, so she had no way of knowing that their fear wasn’t just some child’s phobia, and had a legitimate reason behind it. Young as they may have been, they still remembered the steel tables and the medical equipment and the dirt and the grime, and the entirety of this hidden room reminded them of all of it. However, despite their whimpering and fearful looks, they glanced at one another, as if having a silent, non-verbal exchange, before deciding to cautiously follow Cab and Geek’s lead.

The girl reached one of the tables, and one of the first things she had decided to pick up was an Erlenmeyer Flask which was practically caked in dust, leaving a trail of debris in the air when she’d picked it up. A good way to tell just how long this stuff had been abandoned - which she’d guess was several years, easy. Seeing as there were no rags around (and, frankly, she was too intrigued to really care), she wiped away the dust with her fingers, trying to get a good look at the glass. Once she felt it was cleared up enough, she held it up to the bright light to look. “...This is in surprisingly good condition,” she murmured. She lowered it, putting a hand to her chin without thinking. “I’ll have to ask Sam and Max about this…”

Sophie, feeling a little braver, had decided to stand up on her two legs, and put her two front paws on the dirty table, watching as Geek placed the Flask back on the table, and picked up a vial instead, wiping it off instead. “Do you think that- that- that the wiz’rd that used to live hewe made po- _ po- _ tions?”

“Certainly a likely theory,” the girl replied, half distracted but playing along with the girl’s simplistic thought process.

“What’s ‘theory’?” Cab inquired, tilting his head.

She blinked out of her thoughts, setting aside the vial then moving on to the scales - which was clearly old-fashioned and from a completely different era. “It’s like a, uh- kinda like a guess. Sophie’s guessing that that a wizard lived here and made potions. That’s her theory.”

“Oh,” was all he replied with. “Okay.”

Geek was tapping lightly at one of the scales, seeing if they were still able to tip without any issue - which the answer seemed to be yes. As she did this, a thought occurred to her, which made her stop tipping the scale to one side and her distracted expression shifted to a thoughtful one. She then cracked a smile, and looked down at Sophie. “Y’know,” she said to the pup, “ _ I _ know how to do a little ‘potion-mixing’ myself.”

The girl pup’s curved ears perked up with interest, her eyes lighting up and her tail wagging. “Really?”

“Yup. In fact-” She crouched to be at the pup’s eye level, putting her hands on her knees, “I can make a volcano from a completely normal soda bottle.”

“ _ Whoa _ ,” Sophie said quietly in awe, a bright smile appearing on her face. “Can you show us?”

“‘Course! But I’m not gonna lie, I might need a li’l help with it. Being a ‘wizard’ is hard work.”

“I’ll help!” she said happily, her tail wagging faster.

Geek turned her attention over to the other pups, who had refused to explore the rooms themselves, and simply decided to remain huddled just behind their babysitter. They looked a little more lively now, though, now that she’d mentioned the idea of making a little homemade volcano. “You guys wanna help, too?” she asked.

In almost perfect unison, the other Mastiff puppies exclaimed, “Yeah!”

“Alright, c’mon then.” She stood up, and made her way back towards the basement stairs, the pups following closely behind her heels. Before she went up, she made sure to shut off the lights.

. . .

The DeSoto doors shut as the dog and lagomorph finally were able to return to the vehicle, looking tired and mildly disheveled. Both inhaled deeply, then exhaled in sighs. Sam absentmindedly rubbed at his sore knuckles, which had been thanks to having to punch a few scumbags out, and mumbled, “Well, that was pretty boring, now wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Max murmured in response, his ears drooping forwards a little, not bothering to tend to the bruise on his cheek from when someone had caught him off-guard and clocked him right before he started chewing on their limbs like a feral animal. He sniffed softly. “Takin’ out those crooks just wasn’t the same...felt like somethin’ was missin’ the whole time.”

“‘Cause somethin’  _ is _ missin’, Max,” Sam replied. “Our kids are back at home, and meanwhile we’re out here, and for  _ what? _ For some-” He started banging his forehead against the wheel, the horn honking each time, “-stupid- goddamn- bust-”

“What the hell are ya’ talkin’ about?” Max questioned, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “ _ You _ were the one that wanted t’ do thi-!”

The dog immediately turned and grabbed his husband by the shoulders, his cheeks already wet, and practically shouted, “Well, I shouldn’t have! I just should’ve said  _ screw it! _ ” He let go of his partner and grabbed the wheel with one hand and put the other to his forehead. “It was so  _ stupid _ o’ me, I should’ve just let someone else do it!”

“Then why  _ didn’t _ you!?”

“ _ I don’t kno-ho-ho-w! _ ” he sobbed, throwing his entire forearm over his eyes, before flinging himself over the wheel. “God _ dammit-! _ ”

The lagomorph, now also sobbing, clutched at Sam’s arm tightly, practically digging his claws into the jacket sleeve. “I miss them so  _ muuuch, Saaam! _ ”

The dog wrapped his arms around Max, hugging him tightly. “Me too, li’l buddy,” he replied, giving a big wet sniff. “God, we can’t just go back t’ them-”

“What do ya’  _ mean _ ‘we can’t just go back t’ ‘em!?’” Max proceeded to slip out of his husband’s hug, and grab him by his shirt collar, pulling him forward so far that their noses were touching. “Sam, I wanna see my kids, and I wanna see ‘em  _ now! _ ”

“We  _ left _ ‘em, Max-!”

“ _ We didn’t leave ‘em, don’t ya’ dare tell me tha- _ ”

“We left ‘em at  _ home _ , they were  _ upset _ with us. We can’t just go back to ‘em and say sorry to ‘em - we gotta  _ show _ ‘em we’re sorry!”

Max relaxed his grip, backing off a little, blinking and twitching his nose. “...What’re ya’ thinkin’, Sam?”

Sam paused for a moment, his expression turning somewhat thoughtful, before he gave another sniff, freed the lagomorph’s hands from his shirt collar and placed one hand back on the wheel, and turning on the ignition with the other. “We’re makin’ a few pit stops,” he said, “And we’re gonna spoil the absolute  _ crap _ outta those kids.” Shortly after, the DeSoto’s tires squealed against the concrete, and zoomed off.

. . .

A great amount of time had been spent making a mess in the bathroom putting together the homemade volcano. For Geek’s standards, it was messy, and the paper mache was incredibly lumpy, and the paint looked more like globs of goop rather than rock and lava. By the pups’ standards, though, they had found it absolutely fantastic, and had cheered loudly when she had poured the vinegar in and made a mess all over the tub. In fact, they had begged her for an encore, and she figured her father figures would forgive her for using up extra dish detergent and baking soda if only to keep their little ones happy.

After she’d done it a third time, it was getting close to supper time, and the pups were getting hungry, so she decided to microwave the puppies some chicken nuggets like they had asked. The two exceptions to this were MJ, naturally, and Frank, who apparently preferred to eat the mix of carrots, broccoli and celery that MJ was having over chicken. “Eatin’ nuggets makes me feel bad for the chicken,” the large pup had explained. She didn’t bother to argue.

While they ate their chicken nuggets in front of the TV with some kiddie show playing, Geek moved the volcano out of the bathtub and decided to break out some soap and a sponge to clean off the red-dyed foam off of the floor and walls of the white bathtub. For the most part, everything in the house was pretty peaceful and calm.

And then suddenly, with absolutely no warning, the front door burst open, causing the pups to yelp and bark in surprise and for Geek in the bathroom to accidentally knock over the bucket of soapy water, resulting in it getting all over the floor and her giving a loud, frustrated groan. There in the doorway stood none other than Sam and Max, each carrying several  _ very _ full plastic bags in their hands, and loudly announcing in unison, “KIDS, WE’RE  _ HOOOME! _ ”

The pups gasped in joy, and Sophie threw her hands up as her and her siblings yelled at the same time, “ _ DADDIES!! _ ” They soon hopped off of the couch and completely abandoned their plates of chicken nuggets to rush over to their dads.

Their dads, in turn, immediately knelt down and dropped the bags onto the floors and opened their arms wide, and once their children reached them, they scooped them up and hugged them tightly, laughing joyfully as the pups excitedly licked at their faces. “We missed you guys so much!” Sam exclaimed happily.

“So,  _ so _ much!” Max confirmed with just as much enthusiasm, pressing big ol’ kisses to each of his babies’ foreheads.

“We missed you too, daddies!” Frank said cheerfully, while Nina right next to him nuzzled her face right into Max’s dewlap.

“Yeah!” Sophie said, “You mi-missed all the- all the fun!”

“It was so cool - Geek made a volcano!” Cab said.

“Oh,  _ did _ she?” Sam said pleasantly, right as Geek had entered the room, leaning against the wall.

“Uh-huh!” Sophie said joyfully. “It wen’ like-” She threw her arms up, and adorably went “ _ Wooooshhhh! _ ”

“Well, that sounds like a  _ ton _ of fun!”

“I tried to clean it up,” Geek spoke up, making the family glance over at her. “I accidentally ended up pourin’ water on the bathroom floor instead. Sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Max said, waving a hand. “Messes happen so often, we barely notice. We’ll just get it later.”

“You mean  _ I’ll _ get it later,” Sam corrected.

The lagomorph nodded. “Sam’ll get it later.”

Frank had decided to weasel his way out of his father’s embrace so that he could start burying his nose in some of the plastic bags, sniffing one of them curiously before shoving his face right into it. He then whipped his head to look at his dads. “Is this for us?”

The attention then turned to him, and Sam said, “It sure is, kiddo!”

As soon as he’d said that, the pups started vibrating in excitement, and all of them wriggled free from their fathers’ loving arms to go explore the bags. These plastic bags were full of various goodies - candies, toys, mini pizzas, hot dogs, some cans of mixed fruits in fruit juice for MJ. “ _ All _ of it?” Cab asked, almost in disbelief.

Max decided to go against informing the pups that, obviously, they couldn’t have it all at once, and simply nodded. “All of it,” he repeated in confirmation.

Sophie audibly gasped, and promptly pulled out a bag of popcorn, and a bag of chocolate chips. “Popcorn and choc-chocol’te chippies!” she exclaimed happily.

“That’s right!” Sam said cheerfully, pulling the girl pup right into a hug. “Just as I promised!”

“But I thought we already had popcorn and chocl’te chips?” Nina said, questioning, with a raised brow.

The dog blinked, looking a little surprised by the statement. “Do we?” he asked at first. He quickly supposed that in his highly emotional state, he had completely forgotten that they already had those things back at home, so he merely shrugged, and said, “Well, the more the merrier, right?”

“Can we- can we make it right now?” Sophie asked, her eyes bright and eager.

“Hey, hang on!” Geek said before either parent could say yes, “What about your guys’ supper?”

“Ah, she’s right, Soph,” Sam said to his daughter. “But tell ya’ what - soon as all of ya’ are finished, we can make what _ ever _ ya’ want - includin’ popcorn with chocolate chips.”

“Okay!” Sophie said, too excited to argue, then said to her siblings, “C-C’mon, guys, we gotta- gotta finish dinner!” Without any hesitation, the pups decided to tear themselves away from the bags and rush back towards their plates of chicken nuggets and bowls of veggies.

As soon as they did that, Max leaned over to say quietly in his husband’s ear, “I’ll get a headstart on that stuff, ‘cause I think we  _ both _ know that they’ll suck their dinner right up faster than a roach gets sucked up into a vacuum.”

“You do that, li’l buddy,” Sam replied quietly. The lagomorph then stood up, gathered up the bags and took them into the kitchen. As Sam stood up as well, Geek approached him, and he looked down at her with a smile and his hands resting on his hips. “So, you all had plenty o’ fun, then?” he asked.

“Mhm,” she hummed with a nod. “They’re an entertaining bunch.”

The dog laughed. “Yeah, that we can certainly agree on.”

“Is it cool if I borrow your phone?”

He blinked, and tilted his head. “What, t’ call your mom?” She nodded again, and he couldn’t help but laugh in amusement. “What, you think we come home and you’re immediately gettin’ kicked out?”

She furrowed her brows a bit. “What do you mean?”

“Well, considerin’ all o’ the hard work you’ve done on such short notice, I think you can afford t’ stay a li’l longer t’ have some dinner and snacks. In fact, we, uh- we got a couple of snacks in there for you as well. ‘Course, if you’d rather head right home, that’s alright as well.”

The girl admittedly blinked, almost surprised that not only was the dog offering her to stay a little longer, but that he and Max had even thought of her and gotten her something while they were out. With workaholic parents like hers, she was pretty used to everything being on a fairly tight schedule, even when it was ‘down time’, so this wasn’t entirely something she was used to. So, in response to his offer, she said, “No, I can stay.”

The dog immediately beamed. “Perfect! Say, while we’re waitin’ on Max and the kids - how good are ya’ at burnin’ a video onto a disc?”

She practically scoffed at him, as if him asking was some sort of ridiculous joke. “That’s baby food.” She then asked, “Are you pirating some movie or something?”

“Don’t need a disc t’ do that.”

“Well, no offense, but you do lean on the old-fashioned side.”

“ _ Ha-ha _ . You’re funny. Nah, it’s nothin’ like that - I just offered t’ watch a game of pretend that them guys had been playin’ earlier.” Geek raised a brow at him. “Hey, I missed the ending, okay? Don’t give me that look.”

“I didn’t say anything,” was all she said, despite the smile on her face. “But yeah, I can help you with that, no problem.”

“Great!” He then started heading down a hallway, motioning for her to follow. She gladly did so.

. . .

With plates of half-eaten hot dogs and sweets, and a small bowl of popcorn with melting chocolate chips still resting in Sophie’s lap, the family sat together on the couch as the recording of the pups and their game played from earlier that day on the screen.

_ “I can’t believe the drag’n was the lost prince the entir- the ent- the whole time!” Sophie exclaimed, with Frank standing before her with his dragon onesie still on, along with Nina now sitting on the floor with MJ in her arms, playing with the now empty bowl that had once held apple slices. _

_ “Well,  _ I _ could have told you that,” Nina said matter-of-factly, “But I was stuck in a tower.” _

_ Sophie merely stared at her for a moment, before murmuring, “Right. Anyway-” She then announced, “The princes and the queen have been re-rescued! It is now time to- to return them to the- to the kings!” _

_ “But how?” Nina questioned, “We can’t  _ all _ ride the horsey!” _

_ Sophie pointed directly at Frank, and said, “We can ride on his back!” _

_ “Yeah!” Frank said enthusiastically, “I can fly us!” _

_ Sophie then looked right into the camera, and said, “And then we- an’ we flew directly to the castle, an’ the fam-family all reunited, an’ lived happily ever- ever after.” She threw her arms up with a bright smile, and shouted, “The end!” _

With that, the screen went black, and while Geek politely clapped, the dog and lagomorph both cheered, which prompted the pups to start barking in joy themselves.

“That was  _ awesome! _ ” Sam exclaimed. “Never would’ve seen  _ that _ twist comin’!” He then proceeded to pull Sophie closer to him, and said, with a big grin on his face, “You guys did a fantastic job!”

Sophie giggled as her dog dad pressed a kiss on top of her head. “Thank you, daddy!”

“Such amazing li’l actors,” Max said, brushing a tear from his eyes. “Such a well choreographed climax.”

“Yeah, you guys did a good job,” Geek told the children.

“ _ Totally _ worth the wait,” Sam commented.

Sophie continued to giggle, absolutely overcome with joy. Eventually, though, she found herself leaning forward to look at Cab, who was sitting on Sam’s opposite side, and said, “Hey, Cab!”

He looked over at her. “Uh-huh?”

“We should- we should play, uh, um- Frankinsty next!”

He seemed to light right up at that, his tail slowly wagging. “Really?”

“Yeah! Now we- we have a dungeon we can use!”

“Hey, yeah! We do!”

“Aww,” Max cooed. “See, now- I  _ knew _ you two would find a compromise! So proud of you two.”

Geek, meanwhile, had been leaning forward to grab her can of soda when she heard the word ‘dungeon’, and was reminded of her and the pups’ discovery from earlier, and casually said, “Oh, yeah - you two have a secret basement, by the way.”

Sam and Max looked at her, both of their smiles faltering in their confusion. “...What?” Sam asked.

Only about five minutes or so later, they were all standing in the dirty, old basement again, with Sam and Max staring at it with wide, shocked eyes as they looked over at all of the equipment. “It’s pretty old, but I’m pretty sure all the stuff still works,” the girl stated nonchalantly.

This had prompted both the dog and lagomorph to blink slowly out of their shock, and found themselves looking at each other. “...You didn’t know about this,” Sam asked his husband - seeing as this house  _ had _ been inherited from  _ his _ great-grandfather, after all - “Did you?”

“Uh-uh,” Max replied quietly, slightly shaking his head. They both turned their attention back to the sight before them, the both of them having one question in mind: Why the  _ hell _ did Maximus have an entire science lab underneath the house? As far as even  _ Max _ had been concerned, he had just been an explorer, a geographer, and a historian specifically for the supernatural. At no point had he even  _ heard _ of his great-grandfather getting involved with... _ chemistry. _

“...So can we play down hewe?” Sophie asked.

Sam blinked a few more times. “Uh-” He cleared his throat. “I mean, it kinda needs t’ be cleaned first, but-”

“I can clean it,” Geek said quickly, making the two parents look over at her. “I was kinda gonna ask if, maybe, I could use it, so I’d be willing to clean it up.”

“I- yeah. Yeah, alright. Sure.”

Admittedly, the girl gave a big, bright smile, and, without thinking, moved forward and gave the dog a hug, exclaiming, “Thank you!”

Sam was a little taken aback by this, but he couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement at her happiness. So he patted her back, and simply replied, “You’re welcome, kiddo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15 will be out December 4th!


	15. Blackout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Max spend a fun day with their kids at the Mu͏seu̴m o̶f͢͞ Mo̷͠͞s͢҉t͜l̛͘y̸͠ Ņ̶͠a̴͝t̛u̵̡͘͜r̡͡a͏̧͠  
> ..  
> ...  
> ....  
> .....  
> ......  
> When the lights shut off.

Kendra’s vision was extremely blurry, and her head pounded, aching beyond belief. Her body was racked with pain, every fibre of her body feeling as if it had been set on fire. Her lungs burned, and she felt as if though she was inhaling charcoal. Her limbs felt incredibly weak, but she gathered up as much energy as she could, and pushed herself up. 

She only managed to sit herself up before finding herself involuntarily relaxing every sore muscle in her body, resulting in her hitting against the beige van behind her with a metallic  _ thunk _ . Her breathing was shallow, forming puffs of fog with her breath despite the night air not even feeling all that cool. However, if she had been able to pay closer attention, she would have quickly realized it wasn’t hot breath against cold air - it was smoke.

She shakily lifted an arm to place over her abdomen, and instantly felt the pain increase at the touch, feeling as if though she had just brushed her hand against a laceration wound. She allowed her head to fall limp so that she could take a look at the cause of it - and, through blurred vision, she managed to see that there was a large, black marking right on her stomach, with flecks of blue light peppered in, like embers on a burned log. As well, she saw the veins in her hands were dimly lit under her pale, greyish skin, also glowing azure.

The lady lifted up her hand, blinking several times at it until her vision finally became more clear. Surely enough, she hadn’t been hallucinating - what she saw was exactly what it was.

Her mind was a little bit foggy, her brain feeling as if it had been tossed around violently in her skull, but her memory was slowly returning to her, and it was returning to her quite vividly: She recalled that mutt managing to corner her in an alley, her getting out and drawing her gun, him drawing his and firing - except his hadn’t been a normal blast by any means. It had been bright, surreal, unnatural...and then everything went black shortly after that. And now here she was, sitting against the back of her van, her veins and abdomen glowing like she was a complete freakshow, alone.

She inhaled a deep breath through her nose, ignoring how everything burned when she did so, and firmly placed both of her hands against the van to start standing herself up. She felt a tingle course through her flesh and into her bones, the sensation reminding her of the tingle one felt when one’s limb fell asleep. Her body shuddered, but she forced herself to get to her feet. Her legs were unsteady, and she almost fell over again, but she managed to keep herself up by leaning against the corner of the vehicle. Her head had been lowered as she did this, and she lifted her gaze and looked directly at the handle to the van.

She started shuffling her way over to it, and, when she reached it, attempted to grab ahold of it, though failed thanks to her grip being weak still to properly grasp it. She continued to try and tighten her grip, however, figuring that the best thing she could currently do was drive off and escape while she still had the chance.

Just as she felt like she was close to getting her grip on it, and was getting prepared to open it, she heard footsteps approaching, which made her quickly look over to the exit of the alleyway - which also made her head spin a little, but she tried to ignore it and focus on the sound. She soon decided the best decision she could make right now was release the vehicle’s handle, and stumble her way over by the nearby dumpster - and seeing as she had no strength to open it and climb in (and it wouldn’t be smart anyway, seeing as it would give away that she was there and, more importantly, still alive), she simply ducked behind it instead, though she made sure to peer an eye out to see who was coming.

Unfortunately, because of the location of the dumpster and the location of the driver’s side of the van, she couldn’t see who it was that was approaching right away. However, she heard them get close to the alley and stop, as if surprised by something. Her mind immediately went to the mongrel himself, coming back to check the scene to see if he’d actually got her, but the fact that she heard shoes against the pavement made her think otherwise. She then heard them cautiously start walking again, sounding as if they were carefully observing, searching for something.

Eventually, the person who had entered the alley revealed themselves by coming around the front hood of the car, and she saw that it was a man with dark hair with streaks of grey in it, particularly near his temples, a five o’clock shadow, and a white button-up with a red tie carelessly hanging from his shirt collar. She watched as he circled the front of the vehicle to look on the opposite side of the van, look around everywhere except behind him, where the dumpster - and her - were for a few extra moments, before deciding to shrug and head back to the driver’s side. She then heard the van door open and shut and, shortly after, saw the headlights turn on as the engine rumbled to life. Shortly after, the van was backing out of the alley and driving away.

She waited until the sound of that engine grew distant, too distant for her to hear, before deciding to emerge from her hiding spot, her legs protesting and trembling, which required her to lean on the dumpster for support. She decided to move from the dumpster to the brick wall of one of the buildings that made up the alley, and half shuffled, half limped her way to the end of the alleyway. She looked down one direction, then looked down the direction that that man had driven the van down. She saw no one else, and promptly decided to put the hood to her jacket up to cast a shadow over her face, and promptly started making her leave before anyone else had a chance to nearly spot her.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been walking, but it had obviously been long enough for the sun to start rising, but not enough for the streetlights to shut off. Somehow, she felt as if her already weak limbs were weakening more, to the point that she was no longer pressing a hand to the building she was leaning on, but leaning her shoulder on it in an attempt to not fall over. Eventually, she found her knees buckling completely, causing her to fall right onto the sidewalk with a sharp gasp. She grunted as she tried to pick herself up, but her arms were just as weak and useless as her legs. On top of all of that, she could actually  _ feel _ her heart in her chest slowing, her nerves going numb. It was almost as if, despite the fact that the blast that should have killed her failed to, she was still dying anyway.

Well, one thing was for damn certain - if she was going to die, it wasn’t going to be lying face down on a damn sidewalk.

There was a light post nearby, and she decided to half crawl, half drag herself over to it, gripping onto the post itself. She immediately felt that tingling sensation course through her body again, but this time she was forced to focus on it in order to try and stand herself up. And as soon as she did that, the sensation felt...different. Less like a limb that fell asleep, and far more like adrenaline being pumped straight into her. She was aware of the light flickering above her, and the veins under her skin growing brighter, but more importantly she could feel herself growing stronger. By the time she was able to fully stand up again, she felt as she had prior to her attempted murder, and the light was now out.

The lady looked up at the now dead light, and tilted her head at it in curiosity. She then removed her hands from it and looked at them, watching as the veins remained illuminated a few moments longer before dying back down. Strange...it was as if she had drained the power directly from it to energize herself, but...surely that was highly implausible, right?

Well, she supposed that it wasn’t quite as implausible as a teleporting, Psychic rabbit, and a dog that could fire literal energy out of his gun.

Fascinated, she decided to test out her theory, since, hey, worst case scenario, she made herself look like some sort of weirdo touching some random lamp post, right? So, she glanced over to the next lamp post, located a few feet away from the one she was currently standing at, and walked over to it. Once she reached it, she placed her fingertips against the cold metal - and felt the exact same sensation she did with the other light post and van. She did the same thing she had done just a few moments ago, where she focused on that sensation and nothing else - and she received the same results: She felt the adrenaline rush through her, and saw the glow under her skin light up brighter, and eventually the light flickered out and died. Now she had gone from feeling about normal to pretty damn good, she’d have to admit.

She retracted her hand and stared at it again, watching the glow dim once more. A smirk grew on her features as she slowly curled her hand into a fist. This wasn’t exactly the most  _ ideal _ set of circumstances, but she certainly  _ could _ find a use for it.

With the sun now raised high enough to start casting a long shadow ahead of her, she shoved her hands into her jacket pocket, and continued on her way.

. . .

Over the course of the next couple of weeks since the dog and lagomorph had first gone back to work since adopting their children, they had found themselves being thrusted into other cases - though, thankfully, being able to access more than just one, ten-year-old babysitter to look after them. Even still, the departure was never entirely easy on either the pups or the parents, but at the very least, it was reassuring to know that the kids had been fond of most of those who had looked over them.

Well, for clarification; they were fond of Geek, because she would offer to show them cool projects, most of which were low tier for her - but her requests to show the pups a little more worthwhile were often met with rejection from the pups themselves, finding them too intimidating for their liking. So, she simply stuck with things like homemade lava lamps, DIY edible slime and ‘firefly’ jars.

They were also fond of Mama Bosco, but mostly because she often gave them treats. She also had some educational toys for them, which she had made herself, and which the pups seemed to thoroughly enjoy, even if some of them didn’t entirely understand the function of certain ones yet.

They could coexist with Flint perfectly fine. It was only when he would actually interact with them that they would start nipping at him with their sharp little teeth. Not that he exactly cared, ‘cause lord knew he’d been dealt worse injuries, but he took this mostly as the pups asserting their own boundaries and thus mostly left them be, so long as they weren’t getting into any actual trouble.

Sybil...well, they seemed to be on good terms with her when she fed them and  _ only _ when she fed them. Otherwise, they seemed more insistent on hiding from her under the bed, and only Nina would speak to her directly. They appeared to like Georgie well enough, however, though mostly because they enjoyed clinging to his legs of stone while he casually walked around the house.

But enough about that. Currently, the family was peacefully fast asleep in bed, with Sam partially crushing Max under his weight, and the pups all piled on top of or surrounding them, with MJ fixed in his usual spot by Max’s dewlap, and almost all of them snoring.

Sam, however, found himself being stirred awake upon hearing mumbling and murmuring, and though he was far too tired and lazy to open his eyes up just yet, he perked up an ear to listen. It sounded like Max muttering, in a groggy tone, something along the lines of “...Ish nah evehn blud, ish jusht tomato pashte ‘ou get aht the…” before his loud snoring resumed once again.

Now, here was the thing about Max and his sleep-talking habit that had developed over the course of the past, oh, five or so years - sometimes his sleepy babbling was just part of some really strange and odd dream he was having, with remnants of it leaking through to the point that he was voicing some line coming from it. Other times, it was part of some prophetic vision that decided to come his way in his sleep, and sometimes it was a huge prediction, but other times it was just a small, tiny detail. Regardless of whatever it was, Max rarely remembered much by the time he woke up.

One could probably see why Sam had long stopped trying to decipher these tired mumbles for the sake of his own sanity - and for the sake of trying to keep his fur from going grey too soon.

He must have drifted back into sleep once more shortly after catching the sleep talking, or maybe it had just been about time to wake up anyway - but either way, the alarm clock soon went off. Which naturally meant that the pups immediately woke up and started going off as well, barking loudly in both surprise, and simply to alert their dads that they were now awake. Sam soon stirred awake once again, grunting quietly under his breath as he proceeded to reach over and try to shut off the alarm clock. Instead, he ended up knocking it over and right onto the floor, accidentally breaking it. Thankfully, breaking it stopped it just as well, so not too much was lost.

While the dog rolled over and off of Max, trying to carefully remove the puppies that had decided to dog pile right on top of him, the lagomorph yawned right as the baby rabbit had removed himself from his lagomorph dad’s dewlap, his eyes bright and alert, his little ears sticking straight up. Max casually stretched himself out in a downward dog post, his ears flopping in front of his face, before allowing himself to plop right back down into bed.

“7:00 in the morning should be banned as a time,” he mumbled sleepily, “It’s way too damn early t’ be doin’ anything, an’ I ought t’ get ya’ just for makin’ us wake up at this ungodly hour.”

“‘M not a huge fan of it myself,” the dog admitted, giving a large yawn immediately after he’d said it. “But I promised Papierwaite we’d be some of the first people t’ see this new exhibit o’ his, and, unfortunately, the museum opens in an hour and a half.”

“I don’ even know  _ why _ ,” Max replied, brushing his ears up with his hands while the pups shook themselves free of their sleepiness, their ears flopping all over the place. “I mean, since when do ya’ care ‘bout sea monsters?”

“Since I read Moby-Dick,” Sam joked, which resulted in his partner taking his pillow and whacking him in the arm with it, to which he found himself too tired to even really chuckle in amusement at his own shenanigans. Instead, he said, “C’mon, Max - it’s for Yog. I know you ain’t fond of the whole ‘Elder God pseudo family’ thing, but considerin’ the guy can never see his family again, I don’t think it’d kill us t’ stop by for an hour or so. ‘Sides, the kids’ll love it.”

The lagomorph grunted in response, muttering, “I guess.” He stretched himself out again, crossing one arm behind the other to try and untense his muscles, yawning while doing so. “Wha’ever - guess it ain’t like we were doin’ much anyway.”

“Look-” Sam started saying, then was briefly interrupted by Teddy bumping his hand, so he proceeded to take that hand and pet the top of his son’s head. “Look, once we get home, we can just crash and go into complete hibernation mode for the next three days.”

“Why three days specifically, Sammothy?”

“‘Cause that’ll be how long we have t’ sleep to recover from this large wrench thrown into our sleep schedule.” Max merely grunted again. Sam leaned over to press a kiss atop his head, right between his ears, then offered a gentle smile. “Why don’t I make us some pancakes t’ get the mornin’ started?”

The pups immediately perked up at that, bright smiles appearing on their faces to match their lit up eyes. “Pancakes!?” Frank exclaimed happily, his tail wagging a hundred miles a second.

“Pancakes sound pretty epic,” Max said, tired but willing to crack a smile.

“I’ll start up the stove, then,” Sam replied. As he got up, the pups were rushing after him, hopping off of the bed and nearly smacking his heels with their little paws just trying to keep up with him.

Sam had been telling most of the truth when he said that he was only dragging himself out of a bed at 7AM for the first time since middle school to honour a promise he had made to Papierwaite and Yog - but there was more to it than just him trying to be kind to an Old God who had aided them and offered acquaintanceship and giving the kids a fun time at the museum. The main reason he had been wanting to go was because he figured it would be a pleasant setting to ask Max to marry him again in. Sure, museums weren’t exactly the most exciting place, but the Museum of Mostly Natural History had the benefit of giving Sam the opportunity to say that he proposed under an Amphiptere skeleton (which had replaced the old Wyvern one that had been destroyed by Sam himself several years back). Overall, he was pretty excited for today.

Max, on the other hand, found himself flopping back onto the bed, partly out of exhaustion but also due to his mind feeling a bit...preoccupied - distracted, even - by the few remains of the dream he’d just woke up from that he could still remember. He had never found himself waking from a dream with a feeling like that before, but something about this one had generally felt...off. But he couldn’t put his finger on as to why, and that bothered him more than the fact that he’d never had a feeling like this before. Lord knew he had some of the strangest friggin’ dreams in the world that, if he could ever fully recall them enough to share them with others, would earn him a few extra head turns more than he already received. So why had  _ this _ one made him stop and go, ‘Wait a minute…?’

. . .

This feeling of distraction had been responsible for the lagomorph to basically go on autopilot, simply going through the motions of a morning routine without much thought. He ate his breakfast, he dressed the kids, he hopped into the passenger seat of the car...but if asked what had been going on outside of that, he wouldn’t remember a darn thing.

It was shortly after Sam had pulled out of the driveway that he had finally noticed his husband’s distracted look. Well, correction; he’d noticed as soon as he had sat down for breakfast. It was only  _ now _ , though, that he was choosing to ask, “Everythin’ good, li’l buddy?”

Max finally snapped out of his thoughts, his ears perking up and his head lifting slightly, before looking over at Sam and saying, “Ya’ ever get a dream so weird that ya’ can’t help but wonder what the hell’s goin’ on inside your head?”

“Jeez -  _ you’re _ thinkin’ that?” Sam asked, half-joking. He then sighed quietly through his nose, and said, “Yeah, I guess so. This wouldn’t have anything t’ do with ya’ mutterin’ somethin’ about tomato paste this mornin’, would it?”

“Was that what I said?” Max asked rhetorically, remembering that he had said something distantly but unable to recall what. “I mean...I dunno. I don’t remember much. But I do remember holdin’ somethin’ like...you know that time those guinea pig people brought me you all floppy and flattened an’ stuff?” Sam would have made a joke about how he ‘tried not to’, but simply hummed ‘Mhm’ instead. “It was kinda like that. And I dunno why it’s stickin’ with me - ‘s not like it’s  _ that _ weird compared t’ the other crap I’ve had pop into this cranium o’ mine.”

“Maybe ya’ just ate at a weird time last night,” Sam suggested.

“Mm, maybe. I  _ don’t _ regret eatin’ those jalapeno poppers at 2AM, though. They were delicious.”

“I’m sure they were, li’l pal.” He then added under his breath, “Just wish ya’ didn’t set the curtains on fire.”

“‘Ey, look,” he said, pointing his index finger and wagging it, “I don’t control  _ when _ I burp or  _ if _ I burp fire. That time it was an accident, al _ though _ that ain’t sayin’ much ‘cause I would’ve very much done it on purpose, too.”

“I know ya’ would, that’s why I’m bullyin’ ya’ for it, ya’ bonehead.” The lagomorph merely giggled in response, making Sam crack a smile himself as he took a turn around the corner.

. . .

“ _...The terrifying, extraordinary Kraken is one of the most iconic sea monsters, _ ” came the Frenchman’s voice from the speaker, which was embedded in a polished oak base attached to a large glass case, which had a ginormous, intimidating octopus; a greenish-grey, ugly-looking thing with bright yellow eyes. If one tilted their head upwards to look at the very top of the glass case, they would find a ship model suspended on the top, making it look as if though the giant creature was going to snatch it up and drag it down into the bottom of the sea with it. “ _ According to Scandinavian folklore, it lurks in the depths of the Norwegian sea… _ ”

“Y’know,” Sam said to his husband, the both of them just standing behind the pups, who were standing incredibly close and looking up at it with fascination, “I’ve wondered for the longest time what Yog’s relationship with this guy would be.”

“I actually just figured  _ he _ was the Kraken,” Max admitted. “He  _ did _ say he was an ocean dweller himself.”

“Nah, he said Mariana Trench, that’s nowhere near the Norwegian sea.”

“Maybe he was takin’ a vacation!”

“Eh, there’s still about a two-hundred million year difference between when Old Gods walked and when the Kraken became a thing.”

“Maybe him and Yog were rivals and friggin’ hated each other, then,” Max said, sounding half-impatient, though not towards Sam himself. He was looking around at the various crowds in the museum - which was surprisingly busy, especially for this place - and asked, “Where the hell are they, anyway? Haven’t even got a glimpse o’ Papierwaite since we got in here.”

“Hey, be patient, li’l buddy,” Sam said, not noticing how Sophie seemed to notice something, and lit up, and started toddling off. “He’s the only guy runnin’ the place, he’s probably just busy. I’m sure he’ll be down once he gets the chance.”

“Considerin’ I woke up at an indecent hour for ‘em, he  _ better _ ,” Max replied, as Cab had noticed Sophie wander off, and started following after her. The lagomorph tilted his head somewhat, as if trying to look inside Sam’s jacket. “How’s the ping pong ball doin’?”

Sam responded by looking at his jacket pocket, and, almost perfectly on cue, out popped MJ’s head from one of the pockets. The baby rabbit had admittedly gotten frightened by all the strange, surreal-looking models, and had decided to take shelter in one of Sam’s mysteriously infinite pockets instead. “Pretty comfy, I’d say,” came the dog’s reply. The small rabbit promptly decided to hide again, and so Sam turned his attention from him back to the exhibit before them- and perked up his ears when he noticed none of them there, and promptly started looking around. “Now where did they-?”

Again, almost perfectly on cue, Sophie called, “Da-daddies! Look at- look at this!” This prompted both of the parents to look in the direction of her voice with their ears raised, glance at each other, then follow her voice.

They soon found that their pups were standing in front of one particular exhibit, and that exhibit was one involving Sameth and Maximus. Not the same one as the one that Sam and Max had found in a basement five years ago, though - to make a long story short, Sam had asked Papierwaite to bring it back for one of Max’s birthdays, and the sorcerer had followed through, even having new, less grotesque models made of the two before opening it up for the public to view. After that, Papierwaite had just never decided to remove them, and though he had never disclosed the reason to Sam and Max personally, it was safe to assume that he kept it since it was clearly a more personal history to both the dog and lagomorph. 

(Well, moreso Max than Sam, admittedly.)

The pups were staring at it, looking in awe, and once their fathers showed up behind them, Sophie pointed at them, and said, with a large grin on her face, “It’s you!”

“Oh,” Sam said, laughing in amusement, and shaking his head. “No, honey, that’s- that’s not your dad and I, no.”

Sophie immediately looked confused, looking back at the models and tilting her head. “But they look  _ just _ like you,” Nina chimed in, looking at her dads while tilting her head as well.

Max couldn’t lie, there was, undoubtedly, a part of him that was absolutely thrilled that the pups had stumbled upon this particular exhibit, and was even more excited to share with them some facts about his main role model in life. So, he immediately walked over to his kids and crouched next to them, and explained to them, “That’s ‘cause those are our great-grand _ papás! _ ” He then pointed at the model of the Golden Retriever. “That’s your dad’s great-grandpa Sameth-” He moved his finger to the lagomorph, who was in a striped sweater and holding a match. “-And that’s  _ my _ great-grandpa Maximus.”

“Why are in they in a moo- a ‘mooseyum?’” Cab asked.

“That’s ‘cause they were explorers!” Max told him cheerfully - and not failing to notice the way Sophie’s eyes lit up like Christmas lights, and how she moved closer to her lagomorph father. “These two used to explore all over the world. They’ve been t’ Egypt, and France, and gone through the uncharted territories through a jungle - couldn’t tell ya’ which one, ‘cause I can’t really remember. Maybe it was more than one, I dunno-”

“Did they go to castles?” Sophie asked excitedly, her tail wagging. “And fight again-against pirates?”

“I’m not so sure, but I wouldn’t put it past ‘em! I  _ do _ know that my  _ papá  _ travelled from Chile all the way t’ Red Hook on a boat, but I don’t think he was dealin’ with any pirates or doin’ any swordfightin’ on there. Though, don’t get me wrong - I’m sure he  _ was _ doin’ plenty o’ swordfightin’ durin’ his active years. But you know what the  _ really _ cool thing is?”

“What?  _ What!? _ ” Sophie said - practically demanded - impatient to learn more about this amazing relative that she had only heard of a minute ago.

Max put his face closer to his kids, who were inching closer to him as well, all of them eager to hear more, and said quietly, “Great-grandpa Maximus was  _ also _ a Psychic.”

All of the pups’ jaws dropped, and they all looked directly at Teddy, who - despite his usual passiveness expression-wise - also seemed surprised. “Really?” Teddy asked, putting an index finger to his chin before putting his hand into a phone gesture.

Max couldn’t help the bright, toothy smile upon seeing his son’s excitement, and gave a nod. “That’s right, kiddo! He had powers just like you an’ me. In fact, he was actually the first Psychic in  _ thousands _ of years. How neat is that?”

Teddy wagged his tail excitedly, a smile appearing on his own features, while the other pups went ‘ _ oooh! _ ’ in wonder. Cab then looked up at Sam, and asked, “Wha’ ‘bout your great-grand _ papá _ , daddy?”

Sam blinked at the seemingly sudden question, admittedly surprised by it. The unfortunate truth was, whereas Max had practically spent his whole life looking up to his great-grandfather, hearing all the tales about him and his adventures and doing as much research into them as his attention span would allow, Sam simply...didn’t have that same level of knowledge. Sameth was his great-grandpa on his mother’s side, he died months before Sam had been born and Sam was almost named directly after him but ended up being called ‘Samuel’ instead. That was practically the extent of what he knew. His grandpa Hercule might have told him the occasional story about him, but he couldn’t remember for the life of him.

The point ultimately was his son just asked him about a subject he had little to no knowledge of, and now all of his kids were staring at him expectantly, eager to learn more, and Sam was about to make a complete and utter fool of himself.

“...Well,” Sam finally said, audibly hesitant. “He was...an explorer as well.”

“ _ And!? _ ” Sophie asked, excitement clear in every line of her body, hungry for more information.

“He was…” The dog rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “From a farm in...southern Illinois.”

The pups’ excitement clearly deflated after he had said that, their bouncing and standing on their tip toes and wagging of their tails slowing to a halt. “Oh,” was all Sophie said, sounding disappointed as she exchanged looks with her other siblings, who also looked a little let down.

Max gave his husband a look, quirking a brow, to which Sam could only shrug helplessly. The lagomorph merely shook his head, then looked at his kids and said, “ _ Yes _ , he was originally a farm boy from southern Illinois.  _ But _ he also decided t’ give it all up t’ try and gain a life in the city.” At once, the pups’ ears perked up again, their attention slowly being regained by their lagomorph father’s storytelling. “He found himself some real fancy clothes and picked himself out an uptight last name, so that he could parade ‘round as a rich guy - ‘cause, y’know, no one would’ve batted an eye at him if he still looked and acted like a farmer - but, really, all he had was a suitcase with some spare clothes, a toothbrush, a map and some cash. But the made his way all the way over t’ New York - Red Hook, specifically.”

“Maxim-Maxi- great-grand _ papá _ was in Red- Red Hook, too!” Sophie exclaimed.

“That’s right! That’s where those two met. Over a biscuit and some water, actually, in front of some small cafe. Maximus had been tryin’ t’ steal Sameth’s food, actually - but Sameth could tell the guy wasn’t exactly havin’ a good time, so he just let ‘im have it. Invited him t’ sit. Invited him back t’ a motel, offered him a change of clothes, helped ‘im t’ write and speak English-”

“The two became thick as thieves,” came a man’s voice, making the family look over to see Papierwaite calmly approaching them, deciding to chime in on the story. “They were notorious con-men - tricksters - often stealing pocket change from other rich folk; never the poor. And eventually, they found themselves with a fantastic, rare opportunity at their feet - a free trip to Egypt to explore the Tomb of Sammun-Mak, and the promise of an adventure of a lifetime.” He then opened up his arms, and finished with, “The rest is history.”

The pups quietly went ‘ _ whoa _ ’ at the man’s story, whereas Max scoffed and muttered jokingly, “Know-it-all.”

“It’s good to see you two, Max,” Papierwaite merely replied, then nodded to the dog, and said, “You as well, Sam. Apologies for the wait - there are a lot more people here than I was prepared for.”

“No worries,” Sam responded. “Kids have been plenty entertained lookin’ at the Hydra, the Kraken, and, uh- these handsome figures right here.” He gestured to the two models before them, giving a nod to them, before looking back at Papierwaite, putting a hand in his pant pocket. “Happy belated anniversary, by the way.”

Knowing exactly that the wish was for the Old God, the host gave a nod. “He appreciates it, and he thanks you for coming.”

“Hey, it’s no skin off our backs. Good t’ get the kids out of the house, anyway. Again, they’re havin’ fun.”

“Have they seen Charybdis yet?”

“Who?”

“The whirlpool with the jagged teeth. She’s interactable - the model is on a separate platform so you push a button and she spins. Sort of like,  _ ehhh _ , one of those things you’d find on a playground.”

“Ya’ mean a roundabout?”

“Yes! That would be it.”

“Hey, that’s pretty neat!” he replied cheerfully, then - seeing this as an opportunity to surprise his husband like he had planned - said to him, “Why don’t ya’ take the kids and go show it to ‘em? I’m sure they’d find it amusing.”

Papierwaite blinked a little at the request, but chuckled, saying, “I see no reason why not.” He looked to the pups, and said, “Come, little ones - I have something I would like to show you.” The pups blinked at him once, then looked up at their dog dad. Once Sam nodded, they followed behind the man at his heels without another thought.

Max couldn’t help but huff in amusement, looking up at his husband with a raised brow. “Now what on earth was that about?” he asked, then added jokingly, with a hand on his chest, “Don’tcha wanna hear them whoop with joy like their old man, here?”

“Oh, more than anything,” Sam replied. “Well, almost.”

“ _ Almost? _ ” the lagomorph repeated teasingly.

Sam allowed a few chuckles to escape him, before clearing his throat. “Well, I, uh-” he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’, and, uh...y’know - we’ve been through a lot for the past few months. Y’know, with the facility and the kids and all o’ that.” Max hummed in agreement. “And, y’know, life’s goin’ pretty good, but I, uh- I was just wonderin’ somethin’.”

Max couldn’t help the somewhat smug, knowing, lopsided grin that started forming on his face while listening to his husband speak. That glorious bastard wasn’t slick - Max could tell by the amount of stammering he was doing what he was about to ask, and he didn’t know whether to find it comical that he’d had the same mindset for the past while or disgustingly sappy that they had apparently  _ both _ been thinking it. But, unwilling to let Sam entirely steal this chance from him, he said, “Funny. I’ve been kinda wonderin’ somethin’ myself as well.”

The dog blinked twice, then cracked an amused smile, catching onto the lagomorph’s little ploy. “ _ Dooo _ ... _ you _ wanna go first,  _ orrr _ …?”

Max hummed for a moment, as if in thought, before saying, “I think you should say it first, just t’ see if we really  _ are _ on the same page.”

“You just wanna hear me say it, don’t ya’?”

“ _ Mmmaybe _ ,” he replied, his smile widening.

Sam shook his head. “You crack me up, li’l buddy. Wanna get married again?”

“‘Course I do, ya’ big lug. Do ya’ even need t’  _ ask? _ ” Max said, though clearly just kidding around. He then tilted his head slightly. “And what ‘bout you? You willin’ t’ put another ring on these greasy, gross li’l mitts o’ mine?” he asked, waggling his fingers with one hand while he spoke.

Sam’s smile widened a touch more, and he opened his mouth to reply-

And then suddenly the lights above shut off, plunging the entirety of the museum into a dimness that was only somewhat lit but the windows that allowed the sunshine in, and - aside from the startled gasps and murmurs of the patrons - the building plunged into silence, the voices of speakers and whirs of models and exhibit ceasing entirely.

Both the dog and lagomorph looked around at their now darker surroundings, with Max muttering, “What the hell-?”

Sam continued to glance around, just as perplexed, before hearing a voice saying ‘ _ Awww! _ ’ coming from the direction that Papierwaite had just taken the kids, which made his head snap in that direction, before promptly moving forward to go reunite with his kids, his husband following shortly behind. Soon, he saw most of the pups either standing by Papierwaite, while Sophie and Frank were seated in the middle of the large, toothed whirlpool model. The sorcerer looked confused, and the duo could just barely see Yog-Soggoth poking his eyes out as well, one brow furrowed.

“What happened?” Sam asked Papierwaite, though he got the feeling that, judging by both his and Yog’s reactions, that they were just as much at a loss as him and his partner were.

“I have no idea,” the curator said, looking at the dog and continuing, “I had the power tested just yesterday to make sure nothing would go out. I can not see how this could have happened.”

Sam’s brows furrowed, and he looked at the Old God, and - making sure to lower his voice as to not rouse any attention from the visitors - asked, “Yog?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” was all he replied.

The dog hummed, putting a hand on his chin and raising a brow. “Weird. But not terribly strange, I guess. Lights can be a funny thing sometimes.”

“Ugh,  _ tell _ me about it,” Max chimed in. “Ya’ try t’ put in a light bulb for your UV lamp t’ look at your bones in your hands, and suddenly it’s explodin’ in your face ‘cause it’s too bright.”

The sorcerer and Old God exchanged a look. “...Oddly specific,” Yog-Soggoth commented.

“I had a good reason!” he said, then decided not to elaborate.

Moving on, Sam said, “Maybe a fuse just burst or somethin’.”

“That is unfortunate,” Papierwaite said. “I’m not sure if I have any spares at the moment. I will have to have a look in the office…”

“I can come with ya’ if you’d like,” the dog offered. “Even if ya’ can’t find one, I’m sure there’s nothin’ a quick zap couldn’t do.”

The man nodded. “That would be quite helpful, thank you.”

“Alright,” he replied, and, while Yog retreated again and Papierwaite started heading off to go fix the issue, Sam said, “Ya’ mind waitin’ here with the kids ‘til I get back?”

“Not at all, babe!” Max replied, though admittedly hiding his mild disappointment that their little moment had been so rudely interrupted by some faulty fuse or whatever.

“Great,” Sam said, then jokingly added, “Don’t lose the kids while I’m gone, yeah?”

“No promises!” Max joked back. With that, the dog started following the curator. Max’s ear twitched at hearing the slight whimper from Teddy, and looked down right as the pup was wrapping his arms around the lagomorph’s body. “Aww, it’s okay, Teddy!” he said, patting his son’s head. “This’ll be over in no time,” he reassured.

. . .

“The power box is just over there,” the sorcerer told Sam, pointing to a small, metal box attached to a metal tube on the wall.

“You power the whole museum on  _ that _ tiny thing?” the dog questioned, both parts judgmental and impressed. “It’s a miracle you don’t have power outages more often.”

“It may be small,” Papierwaite said, “But it gets the job done. Now stay here while I search for a fuse - just in case.” Sam nodded once, and the man proceeded to head down the hall, then disappeared around a corner.

At first, Sam merely stood next to the power box, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. Then, quickly getting bored, he figured he’d be better off checking in the box, just to see what was going on in there. After sparing one glance down the hall to see if Papierwaite was returning yet, he then popped open the latch on the side of the door, and swung it open with a quiet creak- and blinked at the sight he saw.

Inside of the power box, it was completely charred, almost looking as if someone had simply set the inside of it on fire. The stranger part was, though, there were blue embers coming from it, which he - and he wasn’t sure how, but he did - recognized as the same colour as his own.

His brows furrowed as the realization quickly hit him that this hadn’t been some coincidental blackout with some burnt out fuse - this had been an intentional cutting of the power. And the perpetrator obviously wasn’t just some average Joe with a blowtorch - somehow or another, they were able to use the exact same method that Sam  _ himself _ could use.

Though it had been quite some time since he had been down there, he remembered that there was another door in the basement area of the museum, which held a bunch of old models and placards from previous and discarded exhibits, which led to the outside alley. He could only guess that the crook would be trying to steal something from the museum, but he had no clue where they would be going or what they would be trying to take - but any self-respecting criminal would take the backdoor to get away with their stolen prizes. Perhaps if Sam managed to get to that backdoor first, he could catch them off-guard. He didn’t have his gun on him (the _ one _ time he tried to be decent by not bringing his revolver to a peaceful location, and there was a chance it would have come in handy to pistol-whip the guy, if nothing else), so he’d have to just go mano a mano with them, he supposed. He promptly abandoned the wrecked power box and started heading for the basement door.

He tore down the hall, mentally trying to rack his brain for the location of the basement entrance, before eventually spotting it and having it click in his head as soon as he laid eyes on it. Without hesitation, he reached for the handle and opened it right up - and didn’t exactly think it odd that it had already been open rather than locked. He supposed that the very first thing that had come to mind was that maybe this thief had simply made sure it was already unlocked before cutting the power to go whatever it was they were aiming to do.

He tore down the stairs, before slowing only once he had gotten to the bottom, reaching out an arm and feeling around blindly before feeling the lightswitch, flicking it up with an index finger. He then remembered that, oh yeah, the power was still out. So he had to use his own powers, allowing a blue aura to surround him to light up the basement, exposing its dusty, antique glory - and, once again, found himself blinking. When he and Max had first wandered into this part of the museum, the very first thing they had both noticed was the old, bizarre models of Sameth and Maximus that Sam had said looked like, verbatim, “ _ the images you find looking up ‘taxidermy gone wrong’. _ ”

Now, the very first thing he was noticing was that the botched memory of his great-grandpa Sameth was now missing, with poor ol’ Maximus lying on the floor with the same look of alarm that Sam currently had. Well, he  _ assumed _ it was meant to be a look of alarm, but given the quality of that thing, it looked more like he had just passed gas during a very important meeting.

The dog knelt down next to him, and carefully lifted him to reveal the large circle on the floor that was clear of dust thanks to Sameth’s model being on a stand. Not that he would have needed to look at  _ that _ to know that Papierwaite couldn’t have simply moved him - because if he had, he never would have been so careless as to separate the two explorers. He naturally assumed that this had been the work of the same person that caused the blackout, but  _ why _ they would wish to steal a giant Build-A-Bear reject was completely beyond him. Maybe it was just the sort of thing that was on the market. The black market, that was.

With furrowed brows and a deep frown, he got back up and continued to make his way through the basement towards the backdoor. He kept an eye out to see if there were any other clear markings in the dust to indicate whether or not other objects may have been stolen, but so far he found nothing. He naturally assumed that the disappearance of the old Sameth model had been the work of the same person that caused the blackout, but  _ why _ they would wish to steal a giant Build-A-Bear reject was completely beyond him, let alone why they would take him but nothing else. Maybe it was just the sort of thing that was on the market. The black market, that was.

He finally reached the stairs to the backdoor, the daylight flooding the stairway, and although he saw no one there, he didn’t fail to notice how the door appeared to be damaged. Upon further inspection, it looked as if maybe someone had busted it open with a crowbar from the outside. He then looked out the window to see if he could catch anything. Surely enough, he  _ did _ spot a vehicle just outside there -  _ and _ , despite the back windows being tinted, he could make out a silhouette of a dog-like thing that clearly didn’t seem to be alive or moving.

He almost flinched his head back in surprise, looking almost baffled. Okay, so he could understand the culprit breaking in from the outside, the door to the basement already being open because they’d left through it rather than entered. He couldn’t fully understand taking  _ that _ model of all things, but it was at least an acceptable idea. He could no longer understand why they would cut the power, however, or how they even got  _ in _ without tripping some sort of alarm, or why the hell they’d leave their car where it could be seen still? That seemed like an incredibly amateur move…

...Unless they had cut the power,  _ then _ came around, broke in and took the model, and had only just managed to get it in their car. But then that didn’t explain why the door to the basement had already been opened.

Unless it had been opened for the sole purpose of someone coming in.

His head jerked up with that last thought, and found himself quickly turning around just in time to catch some other figure right behind him - and he wasn’t sure if they were illuminated by his own glow or if they were producing a cyan glow of their own, but either way, he just barely caught sight of them, moments before a metal object - a  _ crowbar _ \- had been brought right down on his head. His glow flickered for a moment, before fizzling out entirely as he fell unconscious, his body thudding hard against the stairs as he fell backwards, his back hitting each stair before eventually landing onto the cold floor, his arms sprawling and his tongue lolling out.

“Ugh,” the lady groaned, her form casting a dim, azure light on the dog beneath her. “Great. Now I gotta lift his fat ass to the car,” she muttered.

She made it a point to take her jacket sleeve and rub the crowbar rapidly, before tossing it randomly across the room. She heard it loudly clatter onto the floor, but paid no mind. She then went down the stairs, and knelt beside the knocked out dog, and started rummaging through his pockets, before pulling his cellphone out of his pant pocket. If this had been under normal circumstances, she might have pocketed it to use herself - however, she was all too aware of what that lagomorph was capable of, and knew that grabbing his husband’s phone could very well be a fatal mistake. Instead, she settled for setting it down right beside him, before grabbing him by the arms and grunting as she tried to lift him up.

Meanwhile, Papierwaite was calling through the hallway as he was returning from his office, “ _ Saaam, _ I found one!” As he turned the corner with the fuse in his hand, he continued, “Apologies for taking more than a minute - it had been caught under the- drawer…”

He had lifted his head to see that Sam was, in fact, not there, and furrowed brows in confusion at seeing that the power box had been opened. He quickly approached it, and looked inside to see the strange damage that had been done to it. “Oh,  _ merde _ ,” he muttered, before turning and quickly moving back through the hall, calling, “ _ Sam? _ ”

. . .

The lagomorph stood, with his children huddled against him, and watched as the visitors of the museum began to take their leave. The lights had been out for fifteen minutes, and since there was no sign of them coming back on yet, there weren’t many who were patient enough to continue to wait. Max was growing impatient himself, frankly, but he kept his composure regardless. He just didn’t understand how the hell Sam couldn’t have this place lit up again already…

Nina was glancing around, looking at each of her siblings, before looking up at her father, and asking, “Papá, where’s MJ?”

Her tiny voice had momentarily caught him by surprise, his ears twitching, before looking down at her, and saying, “He’s with daddy,  _ mija _ .”

“An’ where’s daddy?”

“He’s still fixin’ the lights with Papierwaite.”

She then looked up at the ceiling, craning her neck a little bit just to look up, then looked at him with a doubtful expression. “They don’t  _ look _ very fixed.”

“No, they do not,” he muttered under his breath, looking at the lights as well, “That you are right.” He looked down at her, however, and gave one stroke of her head, giving a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll all be back soon.”

His attention was taken away from his daughter, however, when he heard others start talking, asking things like ‘Hey, what’s up with the lights?’ and ‘When is the power coming back on?’, which was followed by the curator’s voice saying, “I will address all of that in a moment, just give me a moment-”

Max caught sight of the sorcerer in the crowd, and his nose twitched, his brows furrowing in some confusion as to why he was here, without Sam, without the power back on. So as Papierwaite quickly approached him, he didn’t hesitate to ask quietly, “What? What is it? What’s goin’ on, where’s Sam?”

“That is what I came to tell you,” Papierwaite replied, sounding a little out of breath and looking a little more than worried. “I cannot find him.”

Max’s eyes went wide, blinking, his ears drooping back slightly. “...What?” His expression shifted to one more of annoyance. “What do ya’ mean,  _ ‘can’t find him?’ _ How the hell did you  _ lose- _ ”

“Look,” the man interrupted, putting his hands up - almost as if to try and defend himself from any possible assaults he may receive from the lagomorph - “All I know, is that I told him to stay next to the power box while I fetched a fuse. I came back, and he was gone, and I had to go searching for him.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean he’s  _ gone _ , dumbass - maybe he just went somewhere else in the building-”

“He didn’t,” Papierwaite interrupted again, and opened his mouth to continue, spared a glance at the pups, stopped, then leaned forward to whisper to Max - too quietly for the pups to hear - “I found the basement door open. The backdoor’s lock was broken. Someone broke in.”

“Okay, and how does that equate to-”

“There was a phone down there,” he answered before Max could even finish his question, which made the lagomorph’s eyes widen. “I’m not sure if it was Sam’s or not,” he said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t want to stay in there for too long - I felt that I had to come and tell you as soon as I could…”

Max’s shoulders slumped, his eyes searching the sorcerer’s face for any sign of doubt, for any sign that, maybe, he wasn’t  _ certain _ that something had happened to his husband. And when he found none, his gaze turned to the floor instead, his eyes continuing to flick this way and that. Finally, he looked back at Papierwaite, and only said “Watch the kids,” before proceeding to tear right past him, and running right through the crowd of still lingering people.

The pups watched as their father took off suddenly, then looked up at Papierwaite. “Where’s Papá going?” Frank asked.

Papierwaite almost looked surprised that one of them was addressing him, but before he could even open his mouth, he felt Yog order in the back of his head,  _ Don’t alarm them. _ So he cleared his throat, and said, somewhat awkwardly, “He is just, uh...going off to find your father-”  _ Easy, now. _ “- _ Beeecause _ they are playing, er...hide and seek?” He immediately cringed after saying that, but only because the Old God scolded in his head,  _ Too easy! _

The pups tilted their head at the information, looking at each other, murmuring in confusion, ‘Hide and seek…?’ They then looked back up at him, and Sophie said, “Well, if they’re playing- playing hide and seek, then we- we should help him!” The other children quickly voiced their agreement, sounding happy by the idea of assisting their dad in a game.

“No!” Papierwaite shouted in some alarm, which startled the pups (and a few patrons, as well), and caused them to whimper instinctively.  **_Anton!_ ** “Er- no,” he repeated calmly, putting his hands out as if to try and reassure them. This seemed to work, as their whimpers soon quieted, although their concerned expressions still remained. “No, your father, he, uh- he insisted that  _ he _ find your... _ other _ father...himself. Without help. That is why he asked  _ me _ to stay here and watch you while he...searches.” He gave one thoughtful glance to the side, then looked back at them and said, “Yes,” as if certain that his story was plausible for young toddlers.

“Oh,” was all that Sophie said, sounding mildly disappointed but otherwise accepting of the explanation.

“But when will he come back?” Cab asked.

“ _ Ehhh _ , I am sure it will not be long,” the sorcerer replied. The response seemed to have been good enough for the children, because they soon stopped looking at him and started huddling amongst themselves, instead.

_ You are  _ **_terrible_ ** _ at this, _ the Old God muttered in his head.

“ _ Pas de  _ **_merde_ ** ,” Papierwaite muttered under his breath, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Meanwhile, Max was just reaching the bottom of the stairs that led into the basement - and unlike his partner, he didn’t notice the missing Sameth model, only because he was too focused on locating the dog’s phone that Papierwaite had mentioned. So, he found himself tearing past all the old models and placards, kicking up dust with his big feet as he ran through - and found himself giving a startled cry as his foot stepped on something, causing him to fall over right onto his face.

“Oh, what the  _ hell!? _ ” he cussed once he’d picked himself up, and, while still on his hands and knees, started feeling around the floor, until his hand eventually caught the feeling of some cool and metal. He picked it up, and felt it over, trying to decipher what it was in the dark. As soon as he felt that all too familiar curve, followed by a flat part that split into two, he knew that it had to have been a crowbar. He then picked himself up, getting to his feet, with the tool still in his hand.

He continued through the basement, until he eventually saw the light streaming in through the backdoor’s window. As soon as he saw it, he looked down at the floor and surely enough, there the phone was, the sunlight practically focused right on it. The lagomorph knelt down beside it, setting aside the crowbar and picking up the phone. He inspected it, turning out around in his hands, and- yeah. Yeah, this was Sam’s.

His head quickly snapped up to look at the window, and got back to his feet and quickly climbed the stairs. He could see that the lock was broken, just as Papierwaite had said. When he swung open the door, hitting it against the brick of the building, he looked out at the alley. The only thing he saw on the pavement were black tire marks, indicating that someone  _ had _ been there and driven off in a hurry.

“ _ Ohh, nooo… _ ” Max whined quietly, putting his free hand to his forehead, his face screwed up in regret. His husband was  _ gone _ \- and even worse,  _ his baby son was probably still in the damn guy’s pocket. _ No, no, no - he had to stay calm. Calm. He couldn’t have gone far - he couldn’t have! Max just had to figure out where he went. Or, better yet, who took him - ‘cause  _ hohohooo _ , once he got ahold of them, he would take that crowbar they left behind, and  _ shove it _ SO far up their-

Just then, the phone in his hand started ringing, making his ears go straight up in surprise. He looked at the phone’s screen, and quickly found that he couldn’t see the number of who was calling. Go figure.

He answered it at once, though, and put it to his ear. “Who is this?” he demanded at once. At first, the only response he received was breathing straight into the phone, so he began to repeat, “Who the  _ hell- _ ”

“ _ If, _ ” the voice - which clearly had some form of voice changer being used to make it deeper - on the other end of the line started speaking, prompting the lagomorph to shut his mouth, “ _ you want to come pick up your doggy friend, you can find him at this location. _ ”

Immediately after they had said that, the phone beeped, and Max pulled it away to look at the screen, seeing the text notification that read off some street name. He put the phone back to his ear again, and said, “What the hell have ya’ done with him?” No response. “ _ Hello!? _ ” In the middle of him yelling that, the phone clicked, and he blinked, then looked at the phone to see that they had hung up. “God _ dammit! _ ” he cussed, strongly resisting the urge to throw the phone to the ground in his frustration. Instead, he took the phone, picked up the crowbar and quickly ran back out of the basement again. As soon as Max reached his children again, he quickly said, “C’mon, we’re goin’, get in the car.”

One of the pups went  _ ‘awww’ _ in disappointment and protest- 

“The power ain’t even on, there’s no point in stayin’, so c’mon - we’ll just come back some other time.”

“Did you not find daddy?” Cab asked.

Max, both thanks to his mind going a million miles a minute at the moment and genuinely not expecting his kid to ask such a relevant question, did a double take towards him. “...What?”

Cab pointed right at Papierwaite, who was busy talking to people about offering them a refund to make up for their wasted time. “He said you an’ daddy were playin’ hide an’ seek.”

...Max could only furrow his brows and frown. “Did he, now?” he muttered, then raised his brows, his eyes widening. “Er- I mean-” He looked back at his son. “Yeah. Yeah, no, daddy’s in a, uh- a  _ really _ good hiding place right now, and it’s not here. So I gotta head off and find him somewhere else, okay?”

The pups grumbled, “Okay,” and reluctantly started walking with the intention of going towards the exit to head to the car.

The lagomorph was following closely behind them, a hand on both Frank and Teddy’s backs as he led them forward. Papierwaite finished speaking with the visitors he was talking to, and looked over towards Max, catching his eye. Max simply raised a hand, and called to him, “I’m headin’ off!”

“Good luck!” was all the sorcerer replied with, his brows furrowed in concern for the family.

Max didn’t listen, however - he was much too preoccupied with getting the pups to a safe location and then driving off to the location that was provided for him and fetching Sam.

If he was actually  _ there _ that is.

Him and his children reached the DeSoto, and after ushering them into the backseat, he moved over to the trunk, and tried to open it up, only to find it locked. He damn near asked Sam to unlock it for him, then said “Oh,  _ dammit _ ” under his breath, snapping his fingers in realization. Sam was the one who was carrying the keys. He huffed in frustration, and had half a mind to simply break the lock with his sheer strength. He ended up deciding that just tossing it on the floor of the backseat and telling the pups not to touch it was quicker.

He then hopped into the front seat, and, while he was busy tearing off some part of the dashboard so that he could reach the wires and hotwire it, Nina asked, “Papá, where are we goin’?”

“Mm, just give Papá a sec, sweetheart,” he mumbled, watching the sparks fly between the wires.

Eventually, the DeSoto started up, the engine rumbling to life. Max didn’t hesitate to step on the gas and proceed to pull out as quickly as he could, nearly nicking the car behind him before zooming off.

He went through the contacts on Sam’s phone, and pressed one of the names. “C’mon, c’mon…” he muttered under his breath, holding the phone to his ear, waiting impatiently as it rang.

Finally, the call was picked up. “ _ Hello? _ ” came Sybil’s voice from the other end of the line.

“Sybil, it’s Max,” he said quickly.

“ _ Max? Wh- _ ”

“Are ya’ home right now or are ya’ at your office?”

“ _ I’m...at my office, but- _ ”

“Perfect. I’m gonna have t’ drop the kids off with ya’-” Again, there were whines of protest from the backseat, and Max removed himself from the phone to tell them, “Hey, don’t give me that! Sybil’s a  _ nice _ lady and if ya’ give ‘er a hard time, then you’re  _ not _ gettin’ dessert after supper.”

“Aww, but  _ Papá- _ ” Frank whined.

“No buts!” He heard Sybil still talking on the phone, so he put the phone back to his ear. “Sorry, what was that?”

“ _ What is going  _ on _ , Max? _ ” she asked, sounding completely lost and baffled. “ _ Is everything okay? You sound freaked out- _ ”

“Look, I-” He couldn’t help give a small sigh. “I can’t say right now, ya’ just gotta remind me t’ tell ya’ later. Right now, I just really need someone that I can trust t’ watch the kids.”

“ _ Yes, okay. Absolutely - bring them right up. _ ”

“Thank you,” he said through a deep, relieved sigh, and didn’t even wait for her to respond before hanging up, tossing the phone in the passenger’s seat.

“Why do we have to stay with Sybiwl?” Nina asked, crossing her little arms.

“Because, hon, I can’t just go runnin’ ‘round the city with all you kids in the car.”

“Why not?”

“I just  _ can’t _ , I-”

“Nin _ aaa _ , you heard what the- what the wizard guy said - Papá wants t- wants to find daddy himself!”

“So?” Nina replied.

“So, he can’t search if-if  _ we’re _ here! We could- we could help him!” She crossed her own arms, and shook her head, flopping her ears around. “An’ he doesn’t want that!”

Nina’s only response to that was to yap at her sister, who momentarily blinked in surprise before yapping back, thus causing a lot of angry, back-and-forth yapping between the two.

“Thank God you two like t’ pick fights,” Max muttered under his breath, just glad to not have to explain anything further to his children.

Not too much longer, Max was practically banging his hand against the door to Sybil’s office, with the pups at his feet, and shouting, “Sybil! Sybil, open the door! Open the door right n-”

“-my God!” Sybil exclaimed, exasperated, as she swung open the door, nearly causing the lagomorph to fall forward into the building. “I’m right  _ here _ , relax before you disturb the-”

“Sorry, no time for scoldin’,” Max said quickly, then started kissing the top of each of his kids’ heads, before saying, “Okay, I’ll be back soon, I love ya’, be nice t’ Sybil, don’t chew her socks again,  _ okay, I’ll be back, bye. _ ”

“Wait, Max-!” Sybil tried to call after him, but he had already hopped back into the DeSoto and started driving off again. She could only sigh, crossing her arms with a puzzled yet worried expression on her face.

The pups only stared blankly as their father had left just as quickly as he arrived, before Cab looked up at Sybil, and said, “Papá’s kinda weird sometimes.”

“ _ Yeeeah _ , that he is,” she muttered. She then bent over a bit, hovering her hands near two of the pups’ backs, and said, “Come on, let’s get you inside. I’ll see what snacks I have and what you guys can do while you wait for your dads to get back…”

. . .

The DeSoto’s wheels gave a high-pitched squeal as Max finally pulled up onto the street that he had been instructed to go to. With raised ears, he looked around his surroundings, looking for any sign of Sam. Although very much disappointed, he couldn’t say that he was surprised when he did not see any sign of his husband present. It was incredibly predictable, and now Max could only wonder what the hell the person on the phone’s game was.

As he continued to scan his surroundings, anxiously drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, his eyes drifted right past a nearby alleyway - and he gave it another look, furrowing his brows in a puzzled manner. It looked...familiar. Which was a pretty weird thing to say about an alleyway, considering there were a  _ ton _ of those in NYC, but something about this one had struck him with a sense of deja vu. The problem was, thanks to his absolutely  _ fantastic _ memory (he thought sarcastically), he couldn’t put his finger on it. However, he decided to open the driver’s side door and investigate, figuring that if he got the feeling that he’d been there before, there must’ve been a reason - and, even if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t hurt to check, right? For all he knew, he could have been brought there not to find Sam himself, but to fetch some sort of clue for his whereabouts.

He walked into the alley, glancing around at the ground, trying to find anything unusual or suspicious. He checked by the fence and around the dumpsters - but found nothing that was even remotely out of place. He gave an impatient huff, scratching his head. There had to be  _ some _ reason he had been sent here. Even if it was a red herring, it couldn’t have been just some completely random spot...

His expression was thoughtful, and eventually his gaze wandered back over to the dumpsters. He had checked around them, but not  _ in _ them - and he quickly came to the realization that if someone wanted to leave something here without it being noticed, hiding it with actual garbage was certainly one way to keep it hidden. So, without another thought, he opened up one of them - and gasped loudly, allowing the lid to slam back shut as he recoiled back, his eyes wide with fear.

Now, here was the thing - Sam couldn’t die, because he was already dead. His body could shut down if it was harmed too badly, and he could lie dormant for a while depending on how bad said harm was. But he always healed, and he’d always come back. That being said, that didn’t make it any less upsetting to see his partner harmed to that extent - and he was pretty sure he just saw a brown furred hand, completely unmoving.

He remained frozen for a few moments longer, before finally gulping, and reaching out with shaky hands. He shut his eyes tight as he slowly opened it, then forced himself to crack one eye open...then gave a surprised look, blinking. His brows furrowed in confusion, and he proceeded to throw open the dumpster lid to get a better look at what was actually inside:

The old Sameth model from the basement, covered with what looked and smelled like cheap tomato paste that him and Sam would find at the dollar store.

“What. The. Fuck,” Max said. He leaned into the dumpster and grabbed ahold of the stuffed model, pulling it out with little to no effort. As he stood and stared at it, it just sorta flopped around in his hands, its head falling backwards. He couldn’t help but squint hard at it, wondering why the  _ hell _ this would be left here. Was it some sort of joke? Was it a  _ threat? _ Either way, it was pretty friggin’ ridiculous-

Before he even got the chance to finish that thought, the sound of a police siren blaring a few times snapped him out of his thoughts, making his ears perk up straight and his eyes widen, and whip his head over in the direction of the police cars and the officers that were pointing guns directly at him, yelling, “ _ FREEZE! _ ”

  
Max stared at them, then looked at the model in his hands, and muttered, “Oh, you’ve gotta be  _ shitting _ m-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 16 will be posted December 11th!


	16. Hostage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is accused of a crime that he didn't commit (and, technically, didn't actually happen). Sam wakes up somewhere dark.

“Hey, get your greasy mitts off o’ me!” the lagomorph protested, attempting to pull away from the officer that held the handcuffs in his hand. As soon as he did that, he was grabbed by the wrists, and before he could lash out and bite one of these assholes, another officer was tossing him down. Unable to move much while lying on his stomach with his arms pulled painfully behind him, he could only struggle and snarl while the cuffs were put on him.

Meanwhile, another pair of cops were looking into the DeSoto - one searching the backseat, the other the front. After the one looking over the backseat had opened the door, he was quick to find the crowbar on the floor. He pulled it out, and stated plainly, “Crowbar. Doesn’t look like it has any blood on it, though-”

“Hey,  _ hey! _ ” Max protested, trying to yank himself forward in a vain attempt to get out of the bastard holding onto him’s grip. “That ain’t mine, alright!?”

The officer observing the front seat had been bent over inside the car, observing the dashboard, before pulling his head out and standing straight, turning to his fellow cop and saying, “Hotwired. Must’ve been stolen.”

“No!” the lagomorph argued, grunting as he was forced to his feet and being shoved forward, despite his best attempts to gain footing and plant himself firmly to the ground. “No, no, the car’s mine! I just don’t have the keys, that’s all!”

The cop raised a brow. “So the car’s yours, but the crowbar somehow  _ isn’t? _ ”

“Well, anythin’ that comes from  _ your _ damn mouth sounds freakin’ ridiculous-” He was interrupted by the officer behind him shoving him again, and he was quick to whip his head around and growl, “Keep shovin’ me, asshole, an’ see what happens t’ those nasty fingers.”

The officers inspecting the car watched as the Sameth model was carried off. “Poor bastard,” one mumbled, readjusting his hat. “Probably never saw it coming.”

“That’s not a breathin’ person!” he yelled, “He’s just a stuffed muppet reject-lookin’ bastard!”

The other cop shook his head, and said to the other, “Stuffed him.”

“That’s not even  _ blood! _ It’s just fifty-cent  _ tomato paste! _ ”

“God,” the other cop behind him - the one not ‘escorting’ him - said, disgusted. “Tasted his blood. What a sick bastard.”

“ _ Santa mierda _ , how damn  _ braindead _ are all o’ you sons of-”

Just then, the police officer that had ahold of him was slamming his round head right into one of the police vehicles. “Shut your damn mouth,” he ordered, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and  _ will _ be held against you.”

“Oh yeah!?” Max shouted back at him. “Well, hold  _ this _ against me, ya’ jerk -  _ eat my ass! _ ” 

With that, he found himself being thrown right into the back of the cop car, hitting the back of his head against the window with a grunt. He heard one of them mutter “Take ‘im back to the station,” and before he could manage to fling himself back out, the door was being shut and locked on him. The two officers responsible for searching the car got onto the driver’s and passenger’s side, and soon enough, the engine was starting, and they were beginning to drive off.

This was  _ really _ not good - he didn’t even like getting caught by the cops on a  _ good _ day, but at least being in a good mood meant he was able to entertain himself by pestering the crap out of them. Right now, though, he needed to find his partner and kid, and he couldn’t waste time behind bars.

He found himself scrambling to sit up, and purposely whacked himself against the cage that separated the front and back of the car, pressing his face as firmly against it as he could, with the simple point of scaring his captors enough to get their attention. He somewhat succeeded, because he saw both of them quickly look over their shoulders, and one of them cuss under his breath, before both of them turned their attention back to the road. “Hey, question - what the hell were so many of you doin’ on that random street? Did you  _ all _ have quotas t’ fill that only random people  _ existing _ could satisfy?”

“We got an anonymous tip,” the driver stated matter-of-factly. “Mentioned a rabbit with a body on that specific street. Told us they were driving a DeSoto and were armed.”

“Oddly  _ specific _ , don’t ya’ think?” the lagomorph questioned, before his ears perked in realization. “...They didn’t happen t’ be usin’ somethin’ t’ make their voice sound deeper than Brad Garrett’s, would they?”

The officer in the passenger side looked at him over his shoulder. “You know who they are?”

Max twitched his nose twice, before plopping back into the seat. “No,” he replied. 

Dammit - so  _ that _ was why he had been sent there. It was a set-up, a way to frame him for a murder he didn’t commit. Obviously, this person had been just as aware of the fact that the law enforcement around this town had the IQ of a bag of bricks and could be tricked pretty easily, and used that to their advantage. Well, thankfully, it wouldn’t take much for Max to get out of this. He just needed a sec to figure out how.

He crossed one leg over his opposite knee daintily, and said, “Y’know,  _ teeechnically _ , I’m not a rabbit, so, y’know-”

“Potato, potahto,” the driver said. “All you rabbit-like things look the same.”

“Ah, well,  _ I _ think all cops are bastards, so guess we aren’t too far from the same page! Oh, wait! No we’re not - ‘cause you’re wrong, and I am  _ not _ wrong.”

The officers said nothing, and remained in complete silence.

Max had allowed his gaze to wander to the corner of his vision, and found himself looking over entirely when he caught sight of Stinky’s Diner in the split second that he was able to before they were actually past it. The wheels in his head turned, scheming, and eventually, he found himself cracking a smirk.

“...Y’know,” Max said, turning back to face the front of his seat, noting how neither cop had seemed to notice that he’d looked out the window at all. “I could  _ reeeally _ go for a bacon-wrapped, beef and cheese-stuffed tin foil cone right now.” He looked between the two officers, and asked, “Do you two even eat bacon?” Instead of waiting for an answer, he promptly said, “Oh, who am I kidding.” He couldn’t keep his shit-eating grin from widening before he said, “Pigs’ll eat anything.”

With that, the officer in the passenger decided to say in frustration, “Okay, that  _ does it _ .” He whipped around to face the back. “Listen, pu-” he started saying, then blinked in surprise.

The backseat was empty.

“...Turn around, he got out.”

“What!?” the driver exclaimed in disbelief, looked over into the backseat as well, and promptly found himself squealing the tires, making so that they drifted into a U-turn, and, while sounding the sirens of the vehicle, starting driving down the wrong way.

Meanwhile, Girl Stinky was in the dingy yet surprisingly neat kitchen that went completely unseen by any of the customers, standing at a sink full of dish soap with a pair of rubber gloves on, scrubbing away at whatever unhealthy, barely edible meal had been in a black, stainless steel pot. The cockroach that she allowed to stay and lurk around the diner (and, on some occasions, would bring home with her) was currently lingering right by the side of the sink, picking away at some crumbs.

The phone that was located practically just above the sink started ringing, making her head snap up towards it quickly in surprise. She eyed it for a moment, before deciding that she couldn’t be bothered to take any orders over the phone right now, seeing as she was currently the only one in the restaurant (her grandfather was passed out at their house, if she had to guess) and couldn’t leave it unsupervised. She had been insisting for a while that they should hire more help, but that damn old man was stubborn as hell. Or, given past experiences, maybe he was just reluctant. She would admit to reluctance as well, but dammit, it was a business. It couldn’t just be those two all the t-

All of the sudden, there was a bright light forming right above her, which she looked up at instinctively, wondering what the hell it was, before finding herself pulling one gloved hand out of the foggy dishwater to shield her eyes with her arm. Before she knew it, the spotted lagomorph was suddenly appearing with her right in the kitchen. Once he had fully formed, he gave a loud, startled yell as he fell and landed right into the sink, causing water to splash everywhere. The girl groaned loudly in disgust and annoyance, quickly backing away just in time for the water to only get her leggings and shoes, while the cockroach screeched in surprise, backing away but still getting hit with the water, making him need to shake himself off.

The girl grabbed the nearest dish towel and threw it onto the soaked floor, patting it with her foot. She had her attention pulled away from that as she heard coughing and spluttering, and looked up to see Max, looking like a drenched rat, pulling himself up, and out of the sink, coughing up the water that had accidentally found his way into his throat upon unexpectedly landing in a dish sink. Just because he was part amphibian did  _ not _ mean it was okay for his mouth to be assaulted with dirty dishwater! Eventually, he shook his head rapidly, causing water droplets to be flung every which way - and causing both Stinky and the roach to shield themselves from it.

Once he was finished, he shuddered lightly, and muttered, “Hate it when that happens.” He then perked up his ears, his gaze raising upon only now realizing that the lady was in front of him. He gave her a sharp-toothed grin, and leaned an elbow on the sink’s edge casually. “ _ Gooood _ mornin’, Miss Lemaris! Apologies for droppin’ in like this-” Girl Stinky took a few steps forward, and he held up his hands at once, saying, “Whoa, whoa, wait, don’t push my head under, I’m not just here t’ cause problems, I swear-”

At first, she wasn’t going to believe him, and was, in fact, going to shove his head back under the water just out of spite, but then upon hearing the blaring of police sirens, found herself pausing, listening for a moment before going to the nearest window, and opening the blinds a crack so that she could catch the sight of the police cars rushing by just in time.

She continued to stare out until the sirens had faded out, before giving a small  _ hmph _ , and allowing the blinds to close. She then turned to the lagomorph in the sink, removing her gloves and setting them aside before crossing her arms. “This had better be good.”

. . .

“...And then the  _ police _ suddenly rear their ugly mugs,” Max was explaining, still dripping wet while sitting on the stool by the counter, with Girl Stinky standing on the opposite side, idly wiping the counter down, “And they accuse me of murder! Can you believe it!? I mean, this damn thing looks like freakin’  _ Rizzo _ from the  _ Muppet Babies _ . Like there is no  _ way _ any normal person could mistake it for a body!”

“Well, no law enforcement around here can even come close to being considered  _ normal _ ,” she commented, monotone. “And besides - that’s what you get for falling into what was obviously a trap.”

“Yeah, okay, well, maybe I wouldn’t have fell for it if I had any other leads,” he muttered, drumming his fingers impatiently on the countertop. “I  _ had _ t’ check. I had to! I had a feelin’ Sam wasn’t gonna be there, but at the very least, I had t’ check for clues! Gettin’ framed with a stuffed museum model covered in canned tomato paste was the very last thing I’d expect t’ come out of it…”

“You still haven’t explained why you teleported into  _ my _ restaurant of all places and sprayed dishwater all over the place.”

“Oh- it just happened t’ be there. I don’t memorize a lotta numbers, but I guess after the amount of crank calls I’ve made t’ this place, I got it hammered into this thick skull o’ mine.”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, unimpressed. She stopped wiping the counter, and moved to wipe the counter located behind her, saying, “If that’s all, then why don’t you stop wasting my time, and go run to one of your  _ actual  _ friends for help?”

The lagomorph grunted, his ear twitching in agitation as he thought over that statement. “Can’t go back t’ Sybil, she’s watchin’ the kids,” he started murmuring, more to himself than to her but within her earshot nonetheless. “Mama Bosco’s outta town. So’s Flint. Don’t really got many other options after that…”

“Then just wander around aimlessly, picking up random objects and solving pointless tasks ‘til you find your half-brained crony,” she suggested, though sounding more That’s what you two  _ usually _ do, isn’t it?”

Max groaned loudly at that. “I don’t have  _ time _ for that!” he said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Whoever the hell’s got Sam got MJ, too!”

The girl admittedly pausd at that, stopping her wiping at once. In all of Max’s explaining to her the events that transpired that led to him having the cops after him, he had only mentioned Sam being one missing. He hadn’t mentioned any other name - and although she didn’t care much for his kids, and thought of them as annoying little rascals that weaseled their way into places they shouldn’t be, she heard those two dolts rant lovingly about their kids so much that she could at least recognize one of their names when it was spoken. She set down the rag, and slowly turned to look at him, maintaining that cool, indifferent expression of hers. “Who is that again?”

“The baby baby,” Max responded. “White, fluffy, ‘bout yay big-” He held up his hands to give her a visual. “Looks like an adorable little ball of mozzarella. He was sleepin’ in Sam’s pocket, and- well. You get it by now.”

“Of course,” she muttered, more towards the fact that the only reason that the kid had ended up getting whisked away as well was thanks to him being tucked and hidden away in a pocket.

Both her and the lagomorph looked away, averting their gaze to the floor. Eventually, though, Max looked up upon hearing her let out a long sigh. 

She turned and looked at him with those teal eyes of hers, and said, “Look. Stealing, like- what is he, one? Less than that? That’s pretty low-picking fruit-” She was interrupted by the sound of a gun clicking. “ _ And _ ,” she said, annoyed by the interruption, “Incredibly messed up.”

“That’s a pretty funny thing t’ hear comin’ from you,” Max commented, casually still pointing his luger at her.

“Put it away, Hodge-Podge - this is my way of saying I’ll do you a favour this one time.”

“...Which is your way of sayin’ you’ll  _ help? _ ” Max asked, letting his wrist go slack so that the gun wasn’t pointing at her anymore.

“Whatever, do you want my damn input on this situation or not?”

“My calm exterior is, in fact, hiding a desperate, panicking father that is screaming into the infinite void, so yes, please.”

“Okay, so-” She leaned her elbows against the counter in front of him. “Your doggy husband gets snatched away by somebody, they call you and send you to a seemingly random location, only to frame you.”

“Uh-huh. And?”

“If I were in that person’s shoes - hypothetically, of course. We both know I’d never, ever do anything of this sort.”

“Of course,” he replied sarcastically.

“That sounds like something that would be done out of some sort of spite.”

Max couldn’t help but scoff at that. “Well, that’s not  _ helpful _ . Do you know how many people Sam and I piss off just within the span of an  _ hour? _ ”

“I can only imagine,” she said, deadpan.

“That doesn’t exactly whittle down my options, is all I’m sayin’.”

“Well, obviously that’s where you gotta  _ think _ , moron. When someone’s making a move for the sake of revenge, they usually plan these things with their own personal touches. Why that street specifically? Why you? Hell - why Sam? For all you know,  _ he _ might’ve been the target, and you’re just someone they’re trying to get out of the way.”

“Again, that doesn’t narrow it down,” he said, but put his hand to his chin nonetheless, his brows furrowing in thought. “It’s funny that ya’ mention the street,” he murmured. “It looked familiar, but I got the memory of an empty pillowcase.”

“Well, can’t you help with that,” she said bluntly, removing herself from the counter and turning to keep wiping the back counter.

“No, no, I know, I just-” He groaned in frustration, screwing his eyes shut as he tapped his knuckles against the side of his head. “ _ UGH _ , I know it, I know it, I know I know it, I just-” He didn’t finish that statement - he merely shut his mouth into a firm line and hummed in annoyance. 

Damn his poor memory, the life of his husband and son were at stake! Who the hell did Sam and him deal with that led to them in an  _ alleyway!? _ Couldn’t have been anyone incredibly major, right? No major criminal would be in a friggin’  _ alleyway _ , that just- didn’t happen! That just didn’t happen. But clearly it wasn’t just some petty thief that they dealt with, either, because no petty thief would suddenly upgrade all the way up to  _ kidnapping involving an actual kid. _ The only other option he could think of was maybe some  _ goon _ that was-

He lifted his head right up at that, his eyes wide and his ears straight. “Kendra,” he quietly said.

Stinky stopped to look at him for a moment, before continuing her chore. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

“I guess. But it...doesn’t entirely make sense. It shouldn’t even be possible…”

“And why’s that.”

“Well, t’ make a long story short, she kinda got turned into a human bagel, so I don’t fully understand how she’d be up and kickin’...”

She turned to face him, putting her hands on her hips. “Your partner’s literally a ghost, and you choose to claim this person being a dead lady walking is a flaw in the logic?”

“Well, Sam’s different! Sam’s still alive ‘cause he’s epic. Just like your old man’s still alive ‘cause he’s stubborn as hell, or like how  _ you’re _ still alive ‘cause you’re a fancy mermaid lady. I just don’t get how someone random like her could end up the same way somehow.”

“Not sure if you’ve realized, but every person you interact with has their entire life thrown upside down thanks to the both of you. Doesn’t exactly surprise me that you somehow managed to give somebody the ability to revive by accident.”

“I guess that’s fair.” After a short pause for thought, the lagomorph hopped off the stool, his big feet causing a small splash in the shallow puddle that’d formed from him being dripping wet.

“Where you headed, Fiver?” she asked, sounding at least half interested at best.

“The answer t’ that’s simple, Aquamarine - I’m gonna go fetch my care, then head off t’ the one place I know she would be, an’ I’m gonna kick her  _ ass _ and get my family back.”

After he’d practically slammed the door behind him, the only thing she could think was how he was gonna be pissed when the person he was looking for was, in fact, not there. After all - who  _ ever _ went to the first place people would guess?

. . .

The dog’s eyes, which were extremely heavy thanks to being passed out for  _ hours _ , it felt like, struggled to open up, his vision incredibly blurry - well, it felt blurry. He couldn’t actually tell - it was pretty damn dark in here. Even when his eyelids no longer felt as if they were fighting against him, he could barely see anything, other than what he believed to be a glint off of something metal. He groaned quietly, beginning to feel a dull ache in his head, presumably from where he had been stricken. He felt like he was out of breath, and almost a little disoriented, as one may feel after waking up too fast from a deep sleep. Still, he found himself moving his hands to pick himself up off the cold floor, wishing to get up and to his feet as soon as possible. He managed to sit himself up, then moved to stand-

Only to find his entire midsection suddenly jerked back, making him wheeze before plopping himself back down onto the floor. Underneath his ribs ached from the sudden tug, but he didn’t need that to know that obviously something was keeping him tied down as to prevent him from standing. He looked down to see what it was, but given that it was dark, he couldn’t really tell. It seemed to have a shine to it like steel, maybe, but he couldn’t make that assumption just based on sight alone, unfortunately. He tried to move one of his hands to feel it - and found his wrist also being restrained  _ just _ enough that he couldn’t touch the restraint around his abdomen. Or, rather, so that he couldn’t try to free himself, more than likely.

He gave a quiet, annoyed growl, and decided to do the only other option he could think of in his current situation - light himself up. So, he did, surrounding himself with a dim blue glow that grew brighter-

As soon as his glow reached a certain level of brightness, it suddenly felt like every nerve of his was set on fire, causing him to gasp sharply and involuntarily arch his back painfully. He ended up letting go of the control of his power, his form returning to its usual dimness again. He took a moment to catch his breath, his lungs feeling as though they were burning, before swallowing drly, and trying again. He received the same result, and despite him trying to hold out for a little longer, a whimper ended up emitting from his throat without his meaning to, and once again he had no choice but to let go of his control, this time finding himself falling to his elbows, his breaths sounding a little raspy as he tried to catch his breath.

Was it stupid to want to try again? Yes. Was he going to anyway? Yeah.

He moved to sit himself upright again, but before he could fully straighten his posture, the light suddenly came on with a loud echo which rang in his ears. He tightly screwed his eyes shut, finding the sudden onslaught of light to his vision actually kind of painful.

“I wouldn’t waste too much effort,” came a woman’s voice from across the room, “You’ll need all the energy you can get, fido.”

He ignored the irritating nickname only because he was too busy perking his ears forward in surprise at her voice. That voice...he’d heard that voice before.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching, and this prompted him to shake his head, before trying to rapidly blink away the flashes in his vision so that he could look at what he assumed was his assaulter and, apparently, kidnapper. The footsteps finally stopped right in front of him, and he looked up to see none other than Kendra, the whites of her eyes corrupted into an inky black, her irises an icy colour, and veins visible underneath the incredibly pale skin of her face. His eyes widened at the sight of her, and she couldn’t help but smirk. “Surprised?”

“...H-” he tried to say, then found his voice even dryer than he’d expected. He tried to clear it, though it felt more like he was rubbing sandpaper on the inside of his throat than anything, but tried again nonetheless. “How...how’re you…”

She didn’t bother to wait for him to finish his question, because she already knew well what it was that he was wondering. “You know,” she replied, crossing her arms and shifting her gaze off to the side, “I’m still not  _ entirely _ sure myself. I can’t say that freaky blaster of yours didn’t kill me - ‘cause it did. I definitely died. But something about it seemed to also... _ restart _ me, for lack of a better term.”

“...Reanimated,” he mumbled.

“Ah, now that sounds about right. ‘Reanimated’. Ya’ murdered me in cold blood, but ya’ ended up reviving me in the very same process.”

Well. That didn’t sound horrifying at all, or anything. There went his plan of abusing the hell out of  _ that _ newfound ability.

“...Where’s...where’s my husband?” he asked. Demanded, actually, but with how dry his throat was, it sounded more like a question with a frown and furrowed brows.

“Oh, don’t worry, I never touched him - but I did take care of him. If things worked out, we won’t be hearin’ from him for a long while. And if it didn’t…” She shrugged. “Well, it still slows him down and buys me time.”

“What- what did y-”

“Again, didn’t touch ‘im.” She then crouched down in front of him so that they were at eye level, and held his chin in a surprisingly strong grip. It was a darn good thing for her that she also happened to be keeping his jaw shut, because make no mistake, he’d have bitten her if he could. “C’mon, Sam - ain’t ya’ the least bit interested in why I brought ya’ here?” 

She loosened her grip on him, and although he jerked his head away from her, he said nothing - he merely glared at her. 

She lightly  _ tsk _ ed, shaking her head. “You’re so disappointing.” With a small sigh, she stood back up straight, and started pacing in a small little circle. “Y’see, there’s a bit of a catch t’ this  _ reanimation _ deal, Sammy.” He bit back the growl in his throat at the name. “Aside from the benefit of, y’know, not bein’  _ dead _ , there’s also the neat ability t’ suck energy right out of anything with electricity - that’s how I knocked out the power, by the way, in case you were too slow t’ catch on - but the thing is, I actually need t’ suck the power out of things to  _ survive _ . The thing is, I’m always on a constant timer that’s ticking down to the moment I take my last breath and croak for good - but every time I drain the electricity out of somethin’, I can extend that timer for just a while longer.”

“...Sounds anxiety-inducing,” he muttered.

“Eh, I manage. It’s mostly tedious, though. That’s why I got t’ thinkin’-” She stopped right in her tracks. “Why should I waste all this time searchin’ for power sources everyday when I could just find a large amount of it t’ hold me over for a good while? Now, obviously, the solution to that is simply a generator, right? But thing is, well, freaky, sketchy, zombie-lookin’ gal like myself gonna casually get ahold of some generator?”

“You could probably...probably just...go t’ some landfill or dump and-”

“Then I realized,” she interrupted him, proceeding to go over and brought down the bottom of her boot down on her hostage’s upper back, making him grunt as he was forcefully shoved onto his stomach, the side of his head being pressed onto the cold floor. “What better  _ generator _ than the sick bastard that did this t’ me? After all, it’s apparent that you can’t die - you surviving that shotgun blast and gettin’ up like it was nothin’ was pretty clear - and I’m sure you got plenty o’ energy t’ spare, right?” She bent down and rapped her knuckles on the back of the restraint that held the entirety of his midsection in place. “Even made this whole contraption for you. Don’t ya’ feel special?”

“I feel like a lot o’ this isn’t really practical-” he tried to say, before shutting up once she put more pressure on his back, holding his tongue to keep himself from giving a pained wince.

“‘Course, there is the potential issue of you gettin’ drained t’ the point of constant lethargy,” she said nonchalantly as she straightened her position once more. “And maybe ya’ end up gettin’ so tired that you can never wake up. But that sounds more like a  _ you _ problem than anything.”

He was tempted to make yet another snarky comment, then found himself glancing off to the side for a moment- then looked again, his brows shooting up in surprise upon spotting his coat tossed carelessly aside on the floor. His eyes slowly widened in realization, his mouth opening somewhat, as he looked at one of the pockets. He...he never...he still had MJ in his...pocket when he got knocked out...Oh, he could imagine his little rabbit son, still snoozing away in that pocket, oblivious to the potential dangers that lurked outside. He probably didn’t even hear or feel any of the commotion going on. He then felt a wave of fear hit him after that thought. Did...did she know that his son was-? No. No, she couldn’t have. She wouldn’t be that merciful - if she knew the baby rabbit was there, she’d have made sure he knew by now. As much as it wasn’t his style to really  _ play nice _ with the enemy, he had no choice but to do so. His son’s safety may have very well depended on his survival, right now.

The dog gave a huff through his nose, before struggling to turn his head just enough to look up at her. “Listen,” he said, his voice still sounding scratchy. “I’m sorry, Kendra. Okay? I really am. I never- I never intended t’ hurt ya’, I swear. I di-didn’t know that- that was goin’ t’ happen. I can’t imagine how...how scary your situation must be. Lemme help you, I’m sure there’s somethin’- somethin’ I can do.”

She merely stared down at him with that icy, cold stare of hers, before cracking a smile with such malice that he almost couldn’t help but shudder slightly. “Awfully scary when someone’s standing over you like this, isn’t it, Sam?”

He didn’t bother to answer - he knew that she wasn’t actually searching for an answer, because she already knew what it was.

The lady finally removed her boot off of him, but he didn’t bother trying to pick himself up, figuring that if he tried, she’d likely kick him directly in the muzzle more than likely. “I’ll check in on ya’ later,” she said, her smile falling and her voice returning to its normal monotone. “I’ve got better crap to attend to, for the time being.” With that, she turned and started making her way out of the cold room.

As her bootsteps echoed off the walls of the room, Sam could only keep his eyes fixated on his jacket that was laying far from him, until the light of the room shut off once again, the loving glow of his chest being the only thing illuminating the darkness.

. . .

Max could practically feel his eyes burning from the boredom of having to drive along some long, boring highway for the past hour and a bit just to get to a crappy, damp facility that he had  _ really _ been hoping to never see again, but alas, if he had any hope of finding his husband and kid, he had to look. It was the only place that he could possibly think of that Kendra would take his family. It was isolated, located in the middle of nowhere, and what were the chances of anyone looking there after it had already been cleared out by the cops? In Max’s ‘professional’ opinion, it was the absolute perfect place to bring one’s hostages and hide them away. It was also the most  _ obvious _ place for Kendra to be, thus why he was heading there as fast as he could, which...really didn’t feel fast at  _ all _ given how freakin’  _ long _ this damn drive was.

As the lagomorph continued staring ahead at the seemingly eternal road ahead of him, his hands practically glued to the steering wheel, he found his eyelids feeling droopy, exhaustion beginning to take over his body. He blinked a few times, trying hard to keep them open and fight the feeling of tired boredom that suddenly overcame him.

Eventually, it felt like one moment he blinked his eyes shut, and the moment he opened them, it was to him apparently crashing the DeSoto right into a stone wall.

The sudden jolt caused him to tense up in his shock, his eyes wide, before furrowing his brows in frustration and smacking his hand against the wheel, hissing, “ _ Dammit! _ ” He must’ve accidentally fallen asleep at the wheel without realizing and crashed right into the wall. But for God’s sake, who the hell put a random wall in the middle of th- oh, hey! The wall! That must’ve meant he was finally at his destination!

He hopped out of the driver’s side, and took a moment to check the front of the vehicle. Despite feeling as if he had full-on rammed the car into the wall, he must’ve been going at a speed just slow enough not to cause any serious damage to the DeSoto. That was sort of the benefit of this car - it could take quite the beating and still be mostly functional. Once he was certain it wasn’t going to fall apart on him quite yet, he proceeded to hop onto it, and climbed onto its hood. With a little bit of mental calculation and a bit of strength in his feet, he managed to spring himself forward, managing to get ahold of the top of the stone wall. With a grunt, he scraped his feet against it until he was able to get a grip, and managed to pull himself over the edge.

The very first thing he decided to do once getting over the wall was go to the small, vacant building that stood in the middle of the closed off space. He peered into one of the cracked, dirty windows, framing his eyes with his hands to try and get a look inside. When he couldn’t get a good enough look, he decided to circle around to where the front door was. He grabbed the handle and attempted to open it, and when the door was apparently jammed, he shook the door before giving it a forceful shove, resulting in the door opening with a loud  _ crack _ , bits of it splintering. He swung it open all the way, and, after a quick first look, there still seemed to be nothing - just a dim, dreary, empty building, its purpose long forgotten with time and now just left there to rot and gather dust. However, he entered the building, and walked through just to be sure.

Eventually, he found himself exiting the opposite side after accidentally busting  _ that _ door off of its hinges, and, seeing as he found no sign of any revived lady, his husband  _ or _ his baby, he moved on to go and search for the trap door that led to the underground facility. When he found it, he saw that it had been sealed off, with someone apparently randomly dumping concrete over it. Well, it looked dumb, but he supposed it was a good way to keep anyone else from getting into it. Would’ve been better if it wasn’t such a thin layer of it. As soon as he shot his hand right into it, it crumbled as if it was simply dried clay, and with only a little bit of effort, the Elder God lagomorph was able to tear away both the concrete and the trap door that covered the entrance, and without another thought, he hopped right in.

His initial approach to his current situation, once he was down there, was to slowly draw his luger, just to have it at the ready, and tread carefully. It was  _ far _ from his style, certainly, but it wasn’t exactly  _ ideal _ for him to go right in, guns blazing, when the very  _ last _ thing he wanted was to hurt either member of his family. So for now, he’d remain cautious, and try to stick to the shadows (wouldn’t be hard - it was dark as hell in here now that the lights were shut off), and remain as quiet as possible.

Max wasn’t certain how long he’d spent searching the first half of the building, nor was he certain how long he had been searching the other half before his impatience was finally catching up to him. He had made it a point to carefully examine each room that he could - many of which he hadn’t even touched or seen the last time he had been there - but was finding no trace of Kendra or his family. It was deader than a door mouse in there, or however the hell the saying went, and he was beginning to grow annoyed by his lack of finding any proof of life. Even if the crook herself wasn’t present, her hostages still would be, right?  _ Right? _

He eventually entered a room again, and, after taking one look around, found his ears perking up in realization that he’d already searched that room, recognizing the scuff on the floor that he’d stepped on when he’d entered the first time, and brushed his toe beans against just to see what it was.

And that, right there, was probably the moment where his patience had reached its end.

“...No,” he murmured, removing himself from that room, and going to the next room. He quickly recognized that room as well, from that weird smell of mold mixed with cashews that he noted when he first went in. “No, no,  _ no- _ ” 

He checked another room, then another. One he recognized from the scratch marks on the doorframe, presumably from some animal trying to cling to it. The other, he saw the whole which he’d seen some beetle crawl out of upon entering.

It was official - he had checked every room, and there was absolutely no sign of Sam, MJ  _ or _ Kendra.

“...No,” he said again under his breath. “You used  _ tomato paste _ and a  _ model _ t’ frame me. You faked a  _ murder _ with a can of  _ tomato paste from the dollar store _ , and a museum model that looks like  _ if someone drew a dog without knowing what one was _ . You  _ can’t _ do all of that,  _ and _ be smart enough to  _ NOT. FUCKIN’. BE HERE! _ ” he shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing off of the walls of the empty facility, before simply yelling incomprehensibly, bending over and burying his eyes in his hands. “ _ I DROVE FOR OVER AN  _ **_HOUR_ ** _ JUST T’ GET HERE! GOD-FREAKIN’- _ ” 

He proceeded to take the luger in his hand and fired blindly at the wall, screaming as he did so, though his shouts were drowned out by the gunfire. Of course, he eventually ran out of bullets, the last bullet panging against the wall and clattering to the floor.

He took several deep, angry breaths, clutching his now empty luger tightly, his finger still pressing down on the trigger. Eventually, he let his gun arm go slack at his side, letting out a long sigh and running a hand over his ears before letting it rest on the back of his neck, his gaze fixed to the floor. “...Okay,” he muttered, nodding slowly. “Okay,” he said again. He sniffed once, then turned and proceeded to make his leave the room he was currently in.

There were a couple of cans of gasoline in the trunk of the DeSoto -  _ ‘just in case we need it for the car, or if we just get bored’ _ Sam had said at one point. There were also some matches in the glovebox that they always kept in there for some of their bad habits. Max fetched all of it. He brought the cans of gas down into the facility, and poured it along the floor of the halls, in the rooms- hell, he even coated some of the walls with it, until both cans were completely empty. The moment they were, he simply tossed them as far down the hall as he could. Obviously, two cans of gasoline wasn’t enough to blow up the whole place immediately, but without any outside interference, the facility and its haunting walls full of bad memories and poor ethics would burn right up until it was nothing but ash and soot.

Hey - it was more effective than simply tossing some shitty, low-quality concrete over the entrance in hopes that no one would bother to remove it.

He climbed up the ladder and out of the trap door. He took a few steps away from the opening, before standing and staring at it blankly. He took out the matchbox. He removed a match. He scraped it against the ground until he was able to light it. And he tossed it into the opening, before turning and slowly making his way back to the DeSoto, ignoring the loud roar that came from both behind him and under his feet, and the sudden rise of flames from the opening, which left a warm feeling against his back.

He hopped in the car. He stared out the windshield, looking at the growing flame, noticing how the flames that had managed to make their way to the surface had apparently caught onto the old, abandoned building as well, setting that ablaze as well.

“Good,” he said flatly. He then shifted the gears, and turned his gaze towards the back windshield as he reversed away from the stone wall, turning so that he could begin to make his long trip back to New York City.

. . .

Sybil had eventually made the decision to stop working early that day and drive the pups back to her place. The fact of the matter was, her office was no place for kids - not for a lack of any child-proofing, but because it just wasn’t entertaining enough for them, what with there being nothing around for them to play with. She was better off just taking them back to her home and properly caring for them there. Whatever work she had to get done that day, she could just as easily get it done the next.

While she leaned against the counter, keeping an eye on the oven as she cooked the kids some chicken nuggets (chicken nuggets - they  _ always _ wanted chicken nuggets), the pups themselves were playing with some toys in the living room, but she couldn’t help but notice how...quiet they were. Normally, they’d be causing her trouble, going off to hide underneath something, forcing her to look for them, and refusing to really talk to her save for one who acted as a messenger. Right now, they weren’t like that at all. They were relaxed, simply lying around or absentmindedly chewing on whatever toy that had been offered to them. It seemed that the current confusion surrounding their fathers had resulted in them falling into this odd sort of calm.

Well, this applied to everyone except for Nina. She hadn’t sat still for more than five minutes ever since she was dropped off with Sybil. She kept sitting down, getting up, pacing around, sitting back down, getting back up, pacing some more - rinse and repeat. She was, admittedly, part of the reason the woman had decided to move them, thinking that the small pup was behaving strangely out of boredom, but that didn’t appear to be the case, because Nina hadn’t stopped at all. She continued to pace around aimlessly, anxiety clear in her body language. Sybil had eventually offered her a small, white stuffed bear, which the pup had accepted, but looking now from the kitchen, she could see Nina simply sitting in front of a window, holding onto it tightly.

The words  _ separation anxiety _ came to mind. While the other pups were puzzled yet quiet, she appeared to be restless, unable to sit comfortably without her parents present.

Or...she supposed the lack of her baby sibling was just as likely. Sybil had noticed the baby rabbit missing shortly after Max had left, and that was the moment she knew something was  _ severely _ wrong. And though she couldn’t say she knew just quite how important Nina and MJ’s relationship was to the both of them, she certainly could say that she’d rarely ever seen the two apart. Almost every time she saw them, the two were huddled together in one way or another. And considering Nina was typically the most communicative one of the siblings, well...overall, it was made quite clear that the current situation was leaving the poor pup very anxious, and very unhappy.

Once the chicken nuggets were finished, she plated them on several small paper plates (again - always wanted them on these kiddy paper plates) and placed them on the nearby coffee table for them to begin eating. While they all quietly dropped what they were doing and proceeded to move towards the coffee table, Nina didn’t budge at all - and, frankly, Sybil hadn’t expected her to. Instead, the lady walked over to her, and placed the plate on one side of her, before moving to her opposite side, and sat beside her, cross-legged. Almost instinctively, the small pup looked away from her, and she held the stuffed bear closer to her, pressing her cheek against the top of it.

“...You okay, kiddo?” Sybil asked, genuine concern in her voice.

“Mm-mm,” Nina hummed negatively, shaking her head slightly.

“Missin’ your family?”

“Mhm…” she hummed again, then murmured quietly, “I wan’ MJ…”

“Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’m sure he’s safe and sound with your dads.” She didn’t need to know if that was true - knowing Sam and Max, there was no way they would let anything happen to that kid. Lord knew they’d sooner commit bloody murder than allow anyone to so much as breathe wrong on one tiny fur atop his little head.

“But I don’t  _ want _ him to be with  _ theeem _ ,” Nina whined quietly, before tossing aside the stuffed bear with a grunt, causing it to hit against the nearest piece of furniture before landing on the floor. She then wrapped her small arms around herself, her eyes watering, and her little face contorted in a look of frustration and dejection. “I want him to be  _ here _ .”

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” the lady said softly, carefully hovering a hand right by her back but not making direct contact with her. “Wish I could do something to help…”

The other pups, who had yet to touch their food because they couldn’t help but realize how their eldest sister had yet to join them, stared at Sybil and Nina, before looking at each other, giving quiet, sympathetic whimpers in their throats. Without another thought, they decided to leave their spots from the coffee table, and toddled over to their sister, who had buried her face in her knees, sobbing silently. They then sat down around her, ignoring the plate of food and even shoving it aside to make room, and wrapped their arms around her in an embrace, holding onto her tightly. Nina responded by freeing up her arms and clutching onto Sophie and Cab’s, her little form trembling with each sob that she tried hard to hold back and failed.

Sybil watched the display of sibling affection with a sympathetic gaze, before getting up. She moved the plate that she had left for Nina over to the coffee table, then left the living room. When she came back, she had a pastel pink blanket draped over her arm. She brought it over to the pups, and carefully placed it over them, making sure it covered their shoulders at the very least. She then decided to move back into the kitchen to do something else, and allow the children to have a moment to quietly miss their dads and little brother among themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penultimate chapter will be up on the 18th!


	17. Electrical Fires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stinky helps point Max in the right direction, and Max takes on Kendra in order to save his husband - and his son.

Stinky didn’t really want to help Max. She wanted to have no part in helping Max. She literally would have rathered doing anything else  _ other _ than help Max. He was annoying and irritating, he was notorious for pissing her off with that shit-eating grin of his, and it really wasn’t  _ her _ fault if he was too dumb to realize that he was going in the exact opposite direction of his end goal thanks to his failure to realize that even a moron wouldn’t go to the first place someone would think to find them.

So why had she decided to turn the restaurant’s sign to  _ closed _ , and spend a decent chunk of her perfectly good, valuable time righting his wrong and trying to have something  _ actually _ useful for him to come back to? She didn’t know. Maybe for something to do. Maybe so that she didn’t have to hear Max’s angry ranting, which she knew damn well he’d come to  _ her _ for that, ‘cause he was great at driving her up the wall without even trying, and there was no doubt in her mind that she’d whack him with a frying pan just to shut him up.

Or maybe the idea of someone kidnapping an actual baby didn’t sit well with her even more than she had originally let on when speaking to the lagomorph, and, despite her own vexation towards the family as a whole, she wasn’t sure how well her already heavy conscience would feel if something bad happened all because she felt she couldn’t be bothered.

But mostly the second thing. No, scratch that -  _ definitely _ the second thing.

Despite it being months - and despite her having no reason to - she still remembered the name ‘Kendra’, all the way back when she was asked to keep an eye out for some woman by that name, and some shorter man with pale skin. ‘Course, that was the only information she had received from that, so digging for more information wasn’t exactly a  _ simple _ task by any means. She had half a mind to charge that damned rabbit for the amount of time she decided to spend on this. 

Eventually, however, she was able to find  _ something _ useful. She couldn’t figure out who the Kendra person was - not without a description  _ or _ a last name - but she had seen that pale man for herself before he had decided to bust into the apartment that night, so between knowing his appearance and roughly remembering what time it had been, it didn’t take a ton of mental effort to manage to track down the name ‘Peter Roswell’. It also didn’t take much to find out that he was no more than some petty thief, although he was also a suspect for something that was not openly disclosed, but she could only assume it was something more serious if it wasn’t readily available. However, there was a big gap from the last time he had been caught, and when he had been arrested a few months back. No mention of any Kendra.

The girl couldn’t help but audibly sigh at the fact that nothing could ever be  _ simple _ . She found temptation in the idea of stopping there, and yet she didn’t. She thought to herself how she would be better off sitting in her empty restaurant and doing nothing for the rest of her long shift, and yet she changed out of her kitchen clothes and into something a little more presentable. She told herself that if she really went and followed this lead  _ for _ Max, then she may as well have considered herself as brain dead as him and his husband combined.

And yet, she found herself carrying the cheap notepad that she used to write down orders, and sitting in a chair in front of a pane of glass, waiting semi-patiently for Peter Roswell to come out and have a chat with her, having lied that she was some sort of investigator looking to talk to him.

(She was definitely charging that lagomorph for this. This was so embarrassing and almost completely went against her reputation.)

The girl impatiently tapped her fingernails against the cool surface of the counter, glancing towards the wall before eventually hearing a door open on the other side of the glass, which caught her attention. She watched as a pale-skinned man in an orange jumpsuit entered the room across from her. When he looked up and saw her, his brows went up, almost appearing surprised to see her, before looking confused instead. Her expression didn’t change - she merely stared at him with that calm yet cold gaze of hers. Though he seemed hesitant, he decided to sit down at the seat across from her. He eyed her for a moment longer before deciding to reach for the phone and put it to his ear. She did the same.

“Who’re you?” Pete asked, wariness clear in his tone and eyes.

“Why,” Stinky said with a slight tilt of her head. “Expecting someone else?”

“I…” he began to say, before furrowing his brows, pausing, and giving a shake of his head. “Never mind.”

“Say what you were going to say.”

He looked at her, mildly startled. “You’re not that other investigator.”

“I’m not,” she answered straightforwardly. “And before you ask, no, I’m not affiliated with whoever this ‘other investigator’ is, either. I’m here on a separate case to ask you a few questions.”

“I have nothing to do with it,” the man said quickly.

“Oh? That so.”

“Whatever you  _ think _ that I did, I didn’t, alright? Everything I’ve done under the damn sun’s already covered, so whatever you think I’ve done, ya’ got the wrong guy, okay?”

“So you  _ weren’t _ in kahoots with anyone named Kendra?”

He paused at that, at first looking shocked to hear that name, then looked down solemnly. “...Why?”

“She’s the one that I’m looking for.”

“Then you’re too late. Anything you think you have on her, you’re not gonna catch her. She’s dead.”

“On the contrary,” Stinky stated matter-of-factly. “She’s very much alive.”

His eyes widened, and he looked back up at her, his eyes searching for some hint that she might have been lying. When she remained as stoic as ever, he said quietly, “You’re screwin’ with me. Don’t screw with me.”

The girl shook her head slightly. “I can assure you, I am not.”

“No, that’s- I mean- those bastards said they killed her. O-Or, at least they implied it. I can barely remember, so much of it’s a haze-”

“So your assumption of your partner’s death was based entirely off word of mouth? Not even?”

He shook his head, and muttered, “That damn rabbit sounded too happy..."

“Funny you mention a rabbit,” she said, deciding to cut to the chase, “One is actually the victim of quite a predicament thanks to her.”

“I have no idea about it.”

“No shit,” Stinky said bluntly, then backtracked and said, “I mean, obviously you don’t. I know that. But you’re the only lead I have on her that I could reach under a time constraint.”

“And what makes you think I’ll spill?”

“Technically, it isn’t spilling if it’s just speculation.” When he simply stared at her in silence, she heaved a sigh through her nose. “Your friend’s kidnapped a baby who’s only a few months old.”

“You must not have heard,” he said, deadpan. “That ain’t exactly new for her.”

“Care to inform me on that?”

“Grimmd case - we were both involved.” He nodded towards her notepad, and said, “Don’t bother writin’ that down, case’s gonna go nowhere.”

“And why’s that.”

“Grimmd’s dead as well.  _ Actually _ dead. Someone got ‘im in the holding cell.”

Stinky lightly tapped a finger against the counter’s surface, the wheels turning in her head, a thought quickly bubbling to the surface of her mind. “Weird coincidence, huh?”

“What is?”

“That your partner’s alive, but he’s dead. Just seems pretty funny that those two statements are currently true.”

He blinked once at that statement, glancing off to the side before looking back at her, narrowing his eyes a tad. “What are you implying? That she had something to do with it?”

“Can’t say for certain,” the girl replied, leaning back in her seat and putting a hand on her chin, as if sitting back and expressionlessly admiring her handiwork of planting the seed in his mind. “But it seems like a possibility, doesn’t it?”

“No? Kendra was loyal to the doctor. He may not have treated her the best, but she did as he asked of her. She’d never do anything to him.”

“You know,” she said, lightly tapping her pen on the notepad. “Everyone always claims to be loyal, but there’s no honour among thieves. I’d bet any money that if she was worried about this Grimmd guy snitching on her, she’d have done something about it.” When she received no response from him, she raised her gaze to see Pete looking down with a thoughtful expression. She tilted her head. “Am I wrong?”

Pete, meanwhile, couldn’t help but think back to Simon Crawford - the poor bastard that had managed to get caught by that goddamn detective. The guy had managed to get lucky enough to get arrested, just as Pete had, but he still thought back to the conversation he had with Kendra the afternoon prior to the mess that had wound Pete in prison and her supposedly deceased. How insistent she was to take him out because he’d ratted. How adamant she was to take out those detectives simply to leave no witnesses. Eventually, the realization of this woman’s point was becoming clear to him - and he found himself murmuring, “No. You’re not.” He looked back at her. “She may have killed him. And if she did, she’ll come for me, too. Eventually.”

“More clever than you look,” she commented under her breath, then crossed one leg over the opposite knee, and continued, “This is the same lady that currently has a poor kid in her possession. Barely even a kid. If I can find her, then I might be able to protect the both of you.”

He didn’t even hesitate to ask, “Have you checked the facility? All the way out of NYC, middle-of-nowhere type place?”

“Not there,” she responded - technically not a lie, she figured, considering she knew damn well that she  _ wouldn’t _ be there. “That’s pretty much the whole reason for me coming to you. I figure if anyone would know where else she may be, it’d be you.”

The man eyed her for a moment longer, before sighing through his nose, leaning back in his seat. “You’re gonna wanna write this down,” he said quietly.

The only response to that was a click of her pen.

. . .

The DeSoto’s wheels squealed as Max pulled up in front of the diner, before jumping out and slamming the door behind him, obviously still enraged by the long, pointless trip that he was just returning from. When he proceeded to stomp into the diner, Girl Stinky happened to be standing in the same spot behind the counter that she had been in when he’d left.

“Well, that didn’t take you long,” she said sarcastically.

Max didn’t respond to her quip. He merely went over to the counter, his big feet slapping against the wooden floors, and hopped onto one of the stools. “...She wasn’t there,” he muttered quietly under his breath.

Just this once, she decided to refrain from saying that  _ she _ could have told him that - if only because she didn’t particularly care for getting yelled at by him. Instead, she merely replied, monotone, “That so.”

“I just don’t get it,” he continued to mutter, holding his head in his hands. “How  _ couldn’t _ she be there? I just don’t get it. How can someone be dumb enough t’ use tomato paste t’ frame me, but smart enough t’ relocate.”

“I wouldn’t dismiss the framing thing as dumb considering her plan succeeded.”

“Okay, well, it’s still  _ dumb _ . Like, who the  _ hell _ goes, ‘oh! Tomato paste’ll definitely trick the cops. It’ll definitely make this look like a freak accident. Oh, but I’m not gonna be in that one place they’ll think I’m at, though. That’ll really-’” In the middle of his ranting, he cut himself off, his ears perking up suddenly. He only just now noticed how, instead of the usual shirt, leggings and apron she wore, she was wearing...well, the same shirt and leggings, but also a pretty casual looking jacket over it. He raised a brow, tilting his head slightly. “What’s with the very slight change o’ wardrobe? Were you ‘bout t’ head out or somethin’?”

“Actually, I just got back not too long ago.” She then reached for the notepad that was in her pocket and slapped it down in front of him. He twitched his nose for a moment, before looking at it. “I visited that partner in crime of hers,” she explained, making him look at her. “Pulled a few of his strings and managed to get a location out of him.” The lagomorph’s brows shot right up, and he scooped the notepad to read over the location. “‘Parently she committed a murder there. Or maybe she just hid the body there. I dunno, wasn’t paying attention after he gave me the spot.”

“So she might be hidin’ at her old stompin’ ground,” he murmured, brows furrowing as he read over the location written on there. “...This is a long drive out, too…”

“Better get to it then,” she said. 

The lagomorph nodded in agreement, then promptly hopped off of the stool and started heading out. He found himself pausing at the door, though, and looking back over at her. “Thanks,” he said.

She stared at him for a moment, as if trying to gauge whether or not he was being sincere. Or, maybe, she was trying to figure out how to respond to that. Whatever the case was, the only response she gave was “Good luck - don’t die,” before slipping into the kitchen silently.

Max admittedly blinked, before giving an amused huff. “That’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said t’ me,” he mumbled. He then exited, and hopped into the DeSoto, started it up, and sped off in the new direction Stinky had been oddly kind enough to lead him in, with the only feeling in his chest being the determination he felt to save his family.

. . .

The dog hung limply in his restraints, his eyes clouded as his gaze continued to remain fixed on his jacket that laid a few feet away from him. His captor hadn’t been kidding when she talked about him getting drained - he could tell that in the few hours he had spent in his chains that he was significantly weaker than he had been. He wasn’t even sure if he could sit up without potentially collapsing right back onto the floor at this point. He took heed of Kendra’s words about him potentially entering a lethargic state, however, and was doing his damnedest to keep his eyes open for as long as he possibly could. He had to - for the sake of the little, fluffy bundle of joy that still slept soundly inside his jacket pocket.

Admittedly, because of his current state of exhaustion, his vision was blurry, and he was spacing out pretty hard at the moment. One could even say that by this point, he was more staring through the jacket then at it. So when his baby rabbit son had suddenly poked his head out of the pocket, looking mildly alarmed at having woken up without immediately seeing either of his parents, he didn’t entirely notice.

MJ looked around quickly, giving a quiet, unhappy hum in his throat before laying his eyes on his dog father. At once, he started hopping on over to him, an excited little bounce in his step, and only when he placed his little paws on Sam’s snout did the dog blink out of his haze and fully realize that the rabbit was out and about.

Sam couldn’t help but cracked a very small, weak smile at seeing his baby, murmuring softly, “Hey, bud...ya’ have a- a good nap?” 

MJ responded by patting at his nose with what Sam could only interpret as joy, to which the dog chuckled quietly in amusement. The baby rabbit then patted his muzzle again, this time a little less rapidly.

Sam knew at once what he wanted, and mumbled, “‘M sorry, bud...ain’t got nothin’ t’ feed ya’ with right now…”

MJ, not understanding but seeing clearly that his dad wasn’t bothering to get up to feed him like he wanted, patted at his muzzle more urgently, giving a displeased, low whine.

The dog’s heart leapt a little at hearing the noise, anxiety for his child rising in his chest, and he was quick to lightly shush him. “It’s okay, MJ,” he murmured, raising one, unsteady hand to gently hold the baby rabbit close to his muzzle. “I’ll feed ya’ as soon as- as I can, I just...I need you t’ be quiet, okay…?”

The baby rabbit then removed his paws from his dad’s muzzle, and stomped his hind legs in his frustration, a little frown on his face. Sam could only give a sad little smile, and rubbed a thumb on MJ’s head. The small baby responded by grunting, ducking away from his father’s thumb. He simply stood crouched on all fours, his little nose twitching, before he decided to start hopping off, moving out of Sam’s line of sight.

“MJ?” He attempted to crane his neck to follow him but was unable to. “MJ, come- come back-!” he whispered urgently to his son, that anxious in his chest beginning to squeeze at his heart. What with him currently being restrained, he couldn’t stop the small rabbit from wandering off and potentially getting himself hurt or caught by his captor - and to say that the idea of either occurring scared him would be putting it lightly.

However, MJ, as most babies his age do, did not listen to his father’s words, and continued hopping around, stopping to twitch his nose and ears before hopping again. As he slowly circled his dog father, the chains that were connected to Sam’s restraints caught his attention, making his ears perk. Though they had three separate ends - one for the abdomen, two for his wrists - they all seemed to turn into one longer chain.

For some reason, the baby rabbit found this to be worthy of interest and started hopping alongside it, as if trying to see if it led to anything that he would find entertaining or tasty. He eventually found that these chains led to a little contraption built right into the floor, with a blue button right on top of it. It had purposely been located in a way where, if Sam had even been able to notice it, it still would have been just outside of his reach, essentially dangling his freedom in front of him in a very mocking fashion.

However, it was clear that this had not been built with the thought of a little white rabbit being there and finding it. MJ stared at it for a moment, he made a babbling noise before blowing a little raspberry, and smacking his hand right down on the button.

As soon as that blue button was pressed, there was a brief shock that passed through the chain and into the dog’s restraints before there was a sudden release on their grip. Sam watched with tired yet wide eyes as one of the cuffs around his wrists clattered sideways onto the cold floor. He flexed his fingers a few times, just to regain feeling in them, before attempting to push himself up. It was incredibly difficult to, what with how shaky and weak his limbs were, and he had to stop himself for a moment lest he crash right back onto the floor again. With patience, though, he managed to sit himself up, the restraint around his midsection falling off of him and onto the floor. He rubbed at his sore wrists, which the cuffs had been digging into and left a thin line in his fur.

He then felt a tapping on his thigh, and he looked down to see his rabbit son patting at his leg, making a happy babbling sound, probably at seeing his dad finally getting up, assuming that that meant he was going to get food now. Sam looked from him to behind him, and saw the button that the chains were both attached to. As soon as he had managed to put the two and two together, his ears perked slightly, and he looked back at MJ, who was now making grabby hands at him for him to be picked up.

Sam obliged, scooping his son up carefully, holding him as if he would tear like a piece of paper if he did otherwise. He held the small rabbit up to his muzzle, to which MJ put his paws on his nose once again, swinging his feet. “You,” Sam said quietly, “Are...the most wondrous...fantastic li’l baby...ever.” The baby rabbit merely responded by putting his own hand in his mouth. The dog cradled him gently to his chest, and tried to get up on his trembling legs.

He knew he was too weak to escape at the moment, so he had to do the next best thing: Hide and wait until either he was up to full charge, or until Max got there. And he  _ would _ get there - no matter what Kendra had done or tried to do to slow him down, Sam knew that that lagomorph would burn down the entire city to find the both of them. All Sam had to do by this point was buy him time to get here.

Once he was able to get to his feet, he grabbed his jacket off of the floor with a free hand and slung it over his shoulder, and began making his exit out of the room he had been kept inside of, using the faint glow of his chest as his one guiding light.

He was both surprised and relieved to find that the door to this room wasn’t locked. Once he had opened up the door, he could see clearly that the lock had been rusted from age, and likely was dysfunctional as a result. Upon exiting the cold, dark room, there was a small amount of light that leaked in, just enough for Sam to properly see - and, more importantly, see just how much of an abandoned mess the place was. The floors were a complete mess, there were only a few rickety doors still left on the broken hinges, and the walls- well, hell, there were barely any walls. Most of the crappy plaster had fallen away to reveal only wooden planks - the only thing of which didn't look as if they would collapse at any moment - and anything that had remained was peeling and chipping away.

Sam decided to take his jacket and wrap his baby within it. MJ blinked, seemingly confused by suddenly being wrapped up, but at least didn’t attempt to fight it and was mostly accepting of it. The dog only wrapped him up because with all the filth that was around, he didn’t wish for MJ to breathe in any debris that may have been in the air and potentially harm his tiny lungs. With conditions like these - and just given the situation period - the most ideal solution to this was for him to make it outside.

So that was exactly what he was going to try to do.

Admittedly, he had to lean a little on whatever he could for support, and each step he took felt like he was being weighed down by large, heavy weights. Regardless, he kept moving forward, ignoring the exhaustion and ache of his muscles, holding his confused but quiet child close to him. 

He found some stairs that led to an upper level, and he had to hold onto the wooden rail while taking one unsteady step at a time, the stairs creaking with each step. On the second-to-last step before reaching the next floor, the stair creaked loudly before crashing underneath his weight, causing one of his legs to fall right through.

He grunted in pain, but tried to keep his mouth clamped shut to keep himself from making any extra sound. MJ, however, gave a startled cry, his little face showing visible fear at the sudden drop. Sam was quick to ignore his own current predicament and pull his son closer, gently shushing him and stroking his cheek with his thumb. “It’s okay,” he murmured, “You’re okay…” MJ hummed, voicing his displeasure at the current situation. The dog hushed him again, but also raised an ear to try and hear for any sort of indicator that Kendra was coming. When he heard nothing, he carefully placed the bundle that was his jacket onto the floor before him, and patted the baby rabbit’s head before focusing on getting his leg unstuck.

It took three, maybe four tries for him to do so. Being weaker certainly made it harder for him to simply yank his leg out as easily as he would have if this were any normal occasion. He was lucky to even manage it at all, and as soon as he did, he scooped up his son once again, holding him close to his chest and allowing him to bury his face, whining quietly.

“Shh,” Sam shushed quietly again, patting the baby’s small head. As he continued to make his way through this clearly old, clearly abandoned building, he tried to be a little lighter on his feet to keep from having a repeat incident, moving more in a slight rocking motion. He could feel a pain shooting through his leg with each step, though, and figured that he most likely scratched his leg when it fell through the staircase. It didn’t matter, though. He had to keep moving. He had to reach outside and hide out there until his husband arrived…

He had only managed to turn into one or two other hallways (he honestly wasn’t keeping track) before finding himself stopping and pausing, his ears perked forward to try and pick up on the faint sound that he had sworn he had heard. Surely enough, once he focused on it, he had been right - he had heard a sound, and that sound was the sound of those boots walking on these poor floors.

His breathing quickened, as did his heart rate, and he clutched onto the bundle as he looked this way and that, trying to find a quick place to hide. He wasn’t even sure if she was headed their way. He couldn’t take that chance.

He half-limped, half-walked as quickly as he was able to, searching the hall for some sort of place that could offer them a way to conceal themselves and temporarily offer a means of protection.

The only thing he could find was what appeared to be a closet space. It was small, and it was dark, and he could practically smell the dampness of, and if she found them, then…

Well. He’d think of something. For now, though - this was his best bet. And without another thought of hesitation, he entered the closet, and shut the door behind him, plunging both him and his child in darkness.

MJ immediately whined, disliking the darkness, but Sam shushed him gently. “‘M sorry, MJ…” he apologized quietly, glancing down at his own illuminated chest. “I don’t...I don’t have enough energy t’...light this place up any more, right now…” The baby rabbit didn’t utter any other noise, but he did feel him clutch onto the dog’s shirt. His throat felt tight, tears threatening to well up in his eyes and spill over.

It was his fault that his kid was in this mess - that his other kids were probably worried sick and his husband was out there, no doubt desperately trying to find them before something happened. It had been a completely stupid mistake - why didn’t he just leave him with his husband? Even if he didn’t know what was going to happen…Now the poor rabbit was stuck in this dangerous situation, hungry and probably afraid and unaware of what was going on-

He felt his breath grow shaky, as how one’s breath does when they were on the verge of crying, and looked down to see MJ looking up at him with those big, trusting eyes of his as he held onto his dog father, blinking up at him innocently. Sam couldn’t help but give a single sob, his heart feeling like it was being squeezed. It was then he was reminded that he was still MJ’s father - and still his only ticket to getting out of this mess. He couldn’t afford to allow himself to think of anything other than keeping his baby safe.

He exhaled deeply, and decided to place MJ and the jacket bundle onto the floor, and shifted himself so that he was now lying on his side. He pulled MJ close to his chest, so that the baby rabbit could find comfort in what little light the Poltergeist was currently able to provide, and practically wrapped himself around the baby, using his legs, tail and arm to form a tiny barricade around him. He watched as the baby rabbit decided to snuggle closer to his dad, deciding to flop right next to him, generally appearing calm despite the current circumstances - and for that, Sam was grateful.

“You’re gonna be okay,” he mumbled softly, despite MJ paying absolutely no attention to his words. “I don’t care ‘bout what I gotta do. You’re gonna be okay…”

While those two were stashed away in the closet, Kendra just so happened to pass by that closet door, her bootsteps causing the floor beneath her to creak with each step, sounding as if it would give underneath her but never doing so. For all of its supposed structural insecurity, she could say that this building was certainly hard to actually knock over. It had been a good few years since she had visited the place - and even back then, it had been a complete piece of crap that was crumbling from old age and lack of care - but it didn’t look any more collapsed that it had been.

The last time she had walked through this building, it was to put a bullet in the head of some sorry bastard who had decided to try and rat her out for breaking into people’s homes and stealing their valuables. It was the first person she had actually murdered, but in her thoughts, she never bothered to put a name to the face, because the moment she had snitched, she meant nothing to her anymore. She never got arrested for either the theft or the murder, but she never got the chance to pawn off what she had for some quick cash, either. After that, she had taken off - and, truth be told, for all of her cold, hard demeanour, and her ruthless actions, she wasn’t as brave or confident as she came across. And the brief time she spent sleeping out of her car, avoiding the police as much as she could, she had never felt so damn cowardly. 

So whenever she had managed to encounter Doctor Grimmd and he offered her a job, she had been willing to take it. She had been completely loyal to him, but only out of fear for herself. She had seen that man and how coldly and cruelly he behaved when he was angry, and she never wished to imagine what it would be like if he’d actually turned that anger directly at her.

God, she could almost laugh just thinking about it all now. She could no longer picture herself as being some snivelling mouse pretending to be a cat, willing to lash out at some but acting obedient to others. Disregarding the obvious drawback that she would  _ die _ if she wasn’t consistently sucking back energy, she could easily say that gaining these powers was, in fact, one of the best things to ever happen to her. If she’d had such abilities sooner then, well, she would’ve been living a way different life than she had been living.

She headed up the stairs which led to the top level of the building, which was, oddly enough, the least damaged level. The walls and floors, though caked with dust and mold and somewhat damaged from the elements and animals and what have you, were still intact, as was the roof that hung over her head.

Within this top level, however, was a contraption that she had personally thrown together some time before going through with her plan to kidnap Sam. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but it was large, and it wasn’t terribly complex in its function. She considered it a sort of power bank - the energy that she drained from that mutt went right into it, and all she had to do was stick her hand right into a slot and drain the power from it into herself - and, if she was feeling a little extra ambitious, maybe even take some directly from Sam through it as well.

There was also a thermometer and a sort of pressure gauge on it as well, however, because she had found that with the lower quality of the machine, it was prone to overheating - and, well, if it got  _ too _ hot, then who knows what sort of damage it would be capable of doing. And since the individual she was draining all of this power from was particularly powerful (not as strong as her though, obviously - he’d been  _ way _ easier to knock out than even she expected), she needed to keep an eye on the temperature and pressure, and keep it balanced as much as possible. This meant draining a little bit from it periodically (just a little bit - after all, she still wasn’t sure if draining too much had any negative effect on herself or not), but hey - she certainly wasn’t complaining. Though, this did sort of defeat her original purpose of  _ not _ needing to drain as often. She’d definitely have to fix it up so that it could contain more electricity, eventually.

Anyway, all of this was to say that it was time for her to unload the bank a little, which was the sole purpose for her coming all the way up here. She did as she had normally been doing for the past few hours now: She walked up to the contraption, and briefly checked the thermometer and pressure, and moved to put her hand into the open slot- only to do a double take at the gauge with surprised eyes and furrowed brows. She tapped a fingertip against the glass of it, and, when it didn’t change at all, she took her finger and held it there, absorbing a small spark’s worth of energy from the machine.

Instead of going higher like she had been expecting, thinking that the gauge had simply been busted, the arrow on it just went a little lower instead. So despite the machine being at the usual temperature, the gauge was way lower than it was meant to be - and that was  _ incredibly _ suspicious.

She frowned deeply at this new discovery, and immediately turned and stormed out of the room, and back down the stairs. She continued to rush throughout the building- and stopped upon noticing the first step of the stairs to the bottom level was busted on one side.

Her face contorted more in rage, and she charged right down those stairs, down the hall and slammed open the door to the room she had been keeping the dog captive in, and turned on the lights.

There was no sign of said dog there - only a bunch of loose chains and opened cuffs.

The lady growled, the veins underneath her skin lighting up cyan, and she practically roared at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing off of the empty walls, “ _ SAAAM! _ ”

. . .

The DeSoto’s wheels squealed loudly as the lagomorph took a sharp corner onto a street, racing down it with the gas pedal pressed all the way down to the floor. He rapidly scanned this way and that, trying to find any sign of an abandoned, decrepit building- wait, shoot, had that been in right there?

“Dammit,” he cussed under his breath, turning the wheel as far as he could. 

The vehicle did a sharp turn, the wheels sliding across the road and leaving dark marks on the concrete’s surface. He then switched his foot from full on the gas to full on the brakes, resulting in the wheels to screech and momentarily kick up sparks as it spun out of control for a split second, despite Max doing his best to keep the wheel steady. There was a moment where the car tilted heavily to the left as it balanced on two tires, lingering there as though it was about to fall flat onto its roof...then landing back on all four of its wheels with a metallic  _ thud _ .

Here was seriously hoping that Kendra somehow didn’t hear any of that - because if so, then he had just  _ completely _ tossed out his element of surprise straight into the trash.

He opened up the car’s door, half stumbling out of it with a hand on his head, his brain feeling as if it was doing backflips in his head after that rough parking job. He shook off the feeling then gave a small sigh, before turning his gaze back to the building. It was old, filthy, structurally unsound - looked as if it was one loose steel beam away from getting torn down completely by construction, to make room for something prettier. Like a mall. Or a weed shop.

He pulled out the note that Girl Stinky had written him, and read over the location again. He looked towards the nearest street sign and read it off. This was the place.

He crumpled up the paper in his hand, and tossed it aside onto the road. They’d have better friggin’ been there this time, or else he’d be, somehow, even  _ more _ pissed. With a deep, seething huff through his nose, he started making his way towards the building.

Max managed to squeeze himself through some of the partially wrecked brick, and right as he set his feet on the floo- well,  _ ground _ , actually, ‘cause some of the floor had clearly been wrecked, he found his ears perking the straightest they’d ever had upon hearing a woman shouting Sam’s name angrily at the top of her lungs.

Okay, so, the list of information he gathered from his first five seconds inside the place:

  1. Kendra was definitely here, Sam was most likely here judging by her yelling, and he would think it safe to assume that wherever Sam was, MJ was sure to be nearby.
  2. The way she had shouted that gave Max the vibes that Sam might have just escaped from whatever sort of entrapment his captor had left him in.
  3. If she just discovered Sam’s escape, then both his husband and child would be in greater danger than they already had been.



A look of determination graced his features. He’d have to find his family quickly without accidentally alerting that electrified crone. After all, if he got discovered by her, he could have possibly been putting his family in even further danger. As for his own safety - well, lord knows he never exactly cared too much about that, but he figured that getting himself fried wasn’t exactly beneficial for Sam nor MJ. With his fists clenched at his sides, he got on his tiptoes, and moved ahead with all due haste.

“ _ WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, SAM!? _ ” he heard the lady shout from above him, making him falter in his run to look up towards the busted ceiling, then continued, quickening his pace. He tore through the bottom level until he found a set of broken-down stairs leading up to the next level, rushing up two steps at a time, ignoring the creaks that each stair emitted.

Upon reaching the top step, he found himself halting right in his tracks upon the sound of crying reaching his ears, his eyes widening. “MJ,” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Naturally, the lady’s screaming had startled the poor baby rabbit, to the point of him bursting into loud bawls. Sam’s heart rate had spiked right up, and he shushed his son urgently. “No, please-” he quietly begged between shushes, moving to place his thumb over the baby’s mouth.

The response he got to this was MJ biting down, sending a sting of pain right through his thumb, but after the initial snapping at him, the baby rabbit placed his paws on Sam’s large hand, and started gently chewing on his dad’s thumb, humming unhappily.

Sam held his breath, keeping his ears perked forward to carefully listen to what was going on outside. He heard absolutely nothing, not even a footstep - and that silence alone was enough to terrify him, because it meant that the damage had been done. When he began to hear slow, steady boot steps that creaked against the rotting wood floors, the sound of sparks reaching his ears, and his fear only increased. As they drew closer, he wrapped his free arm around MJ - who was unaware and not the slightest bit alert, perfectly content with chewing on his father’s thumb - and held him closer to his still weakened form.

The door creaked open, allowing a stream of light to come in, which would’ve slowly spread across the dog and his child if not for the woman that was standing in the doorway, casting an almost complete shadow aside from the glow in her veins and eyes.

“Ohh,” Kendra said lowly, her tone cold and her eyes fixed on the white fluffball that munched on his dog father’s thumb as if it were a snack. “So,  _ that’s _ how you did it. Should’ve guessed as much - you’re too stupid to do it yourself.”

Sam didn’t say anything back to her. He lowered his head to cover the small rabbit from the lady’s view. He pulled back his lips, uttering a low growl in his throat, weak sparks of warning flickering off of his fur and dying in the air. Despite his attempts to appear intimidating, as if that could possibly scare the woman off, it was clear in those dim, blue eyes of his that he was scared, possibly more scared than he’d ever been in his life, for the small, oblivious life that he was currently protecting.

“Least now I know you pretended t’ be nice just for that little brat. Real shame all your efforts were wasted.” 

The Poltergeist could only respond with a snarl. 

Kendra raised her hand, a light snaking up her arm and into the very bones of her hand, electricity crackling between her fingers. Sam hugged his son closer to him, shutting his eyes. She then extended her arm in a swift motion, intending to strike-

She paused only because she had suddenly heard the sound of screaming at the top of their lungs, and rapidly approaching. She looked, and barely had the time to react before Max suddenly lunged at her, flinging both him and her to the floor and out of view of the closet door.

Sam shot his eyes wide open, and MJ’s ears went up. While the sounds of fighting were echoing off the hollow walls, the dog managed to get to his feet with the baby rabbit in one hand, using the other to support himself on the doorframe as he peered around. His husband was on top of his captor, beating his fists down on her repeatedly in a completely random, wild manner, while she was trying to keep her arms up to shield her face.

While the dog blinked, completely baffled by the sudden rescue (although certainly not ungrateful), a bright smile came on the little rabbit's face, and he clapped his hands together. “ _ Baba! _ ” he shouted joyfully.

Max paused in his brutal assault to flash his baby boy a wide smile, his eyes lighting up with the sheer happiness he felt at finding his family safe. “Hey, sweetie!” he called back, before seeing Kendra’s hand come towards his face in his peripheral. He grabbed her by the wrist at the last second, and pinned it to the wooden floor. He looked over his shoulder and said to Sam, “Go, the stairs are way over there - get outta here! Get t’ the car!”

If not for the fact that his son needed to be kept safe, he would’ve argued with him, but since MJ  _ was _ in danger if he stayed here, Sam took heed of his husband’s words, and began to stumble his way to the stairs where the lagomorph had pointed, holding the jacket-wrapped rabbit in his arms. The baby rabbit whined in protest, but Sam simply wrapped the jacket right over his head instead, shushing him quietly.

Both the lagomorph and lady growled and shouted as they wrestled on the floor. Kendra had managed to get her wrist free from Max’s grip, and got herself in a position that allowed her to bring up her foot and kick the damned gremlin off of her, making him bounce off of the floor a couple times with a grunt before looking at her with his teeth bared in a snarl.

Kendra managed to get to her feet before Max could get to his, and the moment she did, she thrusted her hands out towards him, bolts of electricity rapidly travelling through her arm and out of her palm, aiming to strike the lagomorph where he crouched.

Max managed to dodge this, kicking his feet off of the wood floor and doing a shoulder roll out of the way. The lady’s attack struck the floor where he’d just been, causing the wood to flare up right before some of the wooden planks fell away, clattering to the floor below.

Sam was halfway down the stairs with MJ (who was sucking on his thumb) in his arms when those planks suddenly came down. They landed several feet in front of him - too far for them to have ever been hit with it - but the dog could see clearly that the planks were alight.

“Shit,” he cussed under his breath, able to smell the smoke from all the way over where he was, and attempting to speed up his exit, hoping for nearly everyone’s sakes - including himself - that those flames wouldn’t catch onto anything. At least, not until the building was evacuated.

Immediately after the lagomorph had sprung out of the way of the electricity, he maintained his momentum, springing himself straight at Kendra with a loud growl. She got her arms up to protect her face, but Max managed to get his jaws around one of them, making her shout in both anger and pain. She stumbled backwards, trying to throw him off of her, but failing. With a frustrated growl, she forced the electricity in her body to flow out of her and into the lagomorph assaulting her. Max’s body tensed up with the electrocution, but that only caused his grip to get even tighter. While they both struggled, Kendra only continued to stumble backwards, until she eventually found her foot going right into a hole in the wooden floor, resulting in both her and Max falling into it, and all the way down to the ground level with a loud crash.

Whereas Max landed with a pained grunt and an ache in his stomach from practically belly flopping, Kendra made no such noise upon impact. In fact, once the lagomorph had pushed himself up with a groan, shaking his head a bit, he found that the lady beneath him was completely unconscious. Actually, he was pretty sure that she wasn’t even breathing.

He tilted his head a little to the side, looking puzzled, before giving a light shrug. “That was easy,” he murmured. He got himself to his feet, then began walking away, oblivious to the fire that was steadily beginning to grow in size.

When Sam had heard the two suddenly fall over right as he was about to exit the building, he found himself stopping and staring in the direction that the sound had come from, wanting to call the lagomorph’s name but not wishing to alert his captor. Shortly after, he saw his husband coming around the corner, and couldn’t help but smile warmly upon seeing him.

Max returned the smile, continuing to approach the dog with the intention of walking out of that place with his family-

Only for what appeared to be a hand made up entirely of blue electricity to suddenly snatch him up, making his eyes go wide with fear before giving a startled yell as he was yanked away from his husband and son.

“Max-!” Sam tried to exclaim, though, with how dry his voice was, he found his voice giving out in the middle of the word, coming out more of a whisper than an exclamation of surprise. He felt the bundle of jacket in his hands shift, a quiet murmur coming from the baby rabbit within. He glanced from the bundle to where Max had been standing just moments before, then cussed under his breath and decided to quickly make his exit. He had to help MJ first, no matter what.

Max struggled against the sudden confine he found himself in, his eyes shut tightly as he wriggled around in the giant fist. When he opened his eyes a crack, he ended up shooting them wide open in surprise with a small gasp.

Kendra, who was certainly not dead like Max had both thought and hoped, had somehow managed to turn her right arm into nothing but energy, stemming from her shoulder and going all the way down to her fingertips. Within the energy, however, there were faint signs of the skeleton within the arm.

The lady got to her feet whilst holding the lagomorph within her grasp, glaring daggers up at him with blazing, blue eyes. “Didn’t think I’d go down so easily, did ya’?”

“Well, ya’ look like you’ve got one foot in the grave, already,” he replied back nonchalantly. “Didn’t think it’d take much t’ shove ya’ right in the dirt-” Her grip loosened briefly, before regripping so that she had a tighter hold on him, as well as a grip on his neck, making him emit a choking sound.

Sam opened the door to the backseat of the DeSoto, placing the jacket bundle in there, and shut the door right as MJ was poking his head back out. The baby rabbit whined, unhappy that he was seemingly being left alone in the car, but he stopped when the dog opened up the driver’s side door. Sam leaned over, and managed to get the car’s engine started, then reached over and began fiddling with the radio, until it was on some channel that usually only had people talking.

“Ba _ baaa, _ ” the baby rabbit whined. “Eee _ beeee _ …”

“Shhh,” Sam said quietly, reaching into the backseat to gently stroke his son’s head. “Papa’s busy right now, but we’ll both be back soon, alright? You’re a good boy…”

The dog exited the vehicle, shutting the door behind him. MJ, dragging the jacket behind him with his head, scrambled up onto the car’s door handle, put his paws on the car’s sill and watched his dog father half-stumble back towards the building, his brows raised with worry.

“Hey, this-” Max managed to get out, though was still struggling to free himself from the constricting grasp he found himself in. “This can’t be healthy for ya’, right? I mean, Sam could probably do this too, but he’s technically dead-”

“Funny,” Kendra said, monotone. She brought the lagomorph closer to her face, narrowing her eyes at him. “Technically, so am I.” She tilted her head slightly to one side. “Guess your pretty li’l husband and I ain’t so different.”

“Well, least we can agree that he’s pretty,” Max said, cracking wise.

This only resulted in the lady growling in annoyance, and her suddenly whipping the lagomorph into - literally  _ into _ \- the nearest wall, making the old walls tremble with the sudden impact, and making Max ache all over. He groaned as he was slowly pulled out of the newly made hole, debris crumbling aside and falling to the floor. He lingered like that for a moment or two, before finding himself being whipped around straight into another wall again.

Sam was re-entering the building to help his partner when Max was being slammed into a second wall, which caused bits of debris to fall from the ceiling and prompted the dog to raise his arms to cover his head, shutting his eyes. He opened them again upon hearing a creaking sound coming from somewhere above him, and snapped his head up in the direction of the ceiling. He’d looked up just in time to see another floorboard from the level above crash down onto the ground level, landing right on top of the other, flaming floorboard from when Kendra had tried to zap Max.

The flame had been dying down, but as soon as the other floorboard landed right on top of it, it flared right up again, the flame quickly tripling its size. It flickered sharply to one side, and caught on the floor beside it, and, unsurprisingly, the floor also was set ablaze.

“Max!” Sam managed to call, worry visible on his face.

The lagomorph’s ears perked right up, wondering what the hell his partner was doing here after he had  _ explicitly _ told him to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, Kendra had also heard him, and looked at him over her shoulder with a menacing eye akin to a predator spotting its prey. While still holding the lagomorph in her one powered hand, energy quickly surrounded her opposite arm, and she shot it towards the Poltergeist.

Sam’s ears went straight up, before he threw himself off the side, landing with a grunt and tumbling across the floor in a clumsy manner. The powered arm that had been shot towards him ended up striking a nearby beam instead, snapping it right in half and causing a good portion of the ceiling above to suddenly cave and fall to the ground below. The dog attempted to push himself up onto his trembling limbs with a grunt. His attention soon snapped over to the lady’s hand again when she had retracted it back aggressively, sending half of the beam flying and clattering onto the floor, and bent her fingers into what could only be described as claws, prepared to try and snatch the dog up.

“Sam-!” Max exclaimed, his voice but a whisper despite the panic on his face for his husband. He promptly began to wriggle his arm around, until eventually he was not only able to free it from the distracted Kendra’s grip, but also fetch Sam’s cell phone from his inventory. With whatever effort he could muster with his current situation, he proceeded to chuck the device, sending it flying. It thankfully hit a portion of the ground level that was literally just ground, which had more than likely spared the phone from meeting a smashing end, as well as kept its landing no louder than a dull  _ thud _ .

With some concentration, he was able to channel his energy into teleporting directly to the phone, finding himself no longer within Kendra’s massive hand, but now standing overtop the phone itself. He then launched himself forward toward his partner, and managed to tackle him to the ground right as the hand struck down, digging into the floor and dirt.

Both the dog and lagomorph grunted upon landing, with Max landing on top of Sam. Max was quick to recover, however, and crawled forward so that he could put his hands on his husband’s face. “Are you alright? Are ya’ hurt?” he inquired, concern etched on his features.

Sam responded by placing his hand overtop one of Max’s, murmuring, “I’m fine. I’m alright. You?”

“I ain’t the one that got kidnapped,” was all he replied, before moving his hands to help Sam sit up. As much as he’d absolutely love to make out with his husband, there was still a threat present, and they’d yet to figure out a way to stop it.

While sitting Sam up, however, the duo heard the sound of strained panting, which made both of their ears raise. They looked at the lady that had been trying to harm them, and saw her hunched over, breathing deeply. Both of her powered arms were lying on the floor, and they looked as if they were flickering in and out of existence. She appeared to be doing quite poorly, and looked as if she was struggling to even breathe.

“Told ‘er that couldn’t be healthy,” Max murmured to his partner.

Sam, however, managed to get himself onto his feet, and called to the electrified lady, “The power you’re usin’ up’s too much t’ maintain! Just give it up and come quietly before ya’ hurt yourself!”

After a few wheezed breaths, she snapped, “The only person that’s gonna end up hurt here is  _ you! _ ” With that, she shot both of her arms up onto the hole in the ceiling, and with a grunt, she managed to pull herself up onto the next floor.

“Now, where the hell’s she goin’?” Max questioned with a raised brow.

“She’s been drainin’ power from me,” Sam explained, “Usin’ it so that she can stay alive for longer periods. She’s gotta be storin’ it in somethin’ - there’s no way any normal person like her could take that much energy from me an’ hold it in all at one time.”

“I think she fits the description of ‘normal’ anymore, but I understand the point you’re tryin’ t’ make. Guess that means I should probably stop ‘er before she makes herself stronger, then.”

“Don’t ya’ mean  _ we _ should probably stop ‘er?”

“No, I mean  _ I _ , ‘cause you can barely move, and as adorable as it is how much ya’ care ‘bout my safety, I didn’t come  _ aaall _ this way t’ save ya’ just for your stubborn ass t’ put yourself in even  _ more _ danger just t’ protect me!”

“But-”

“No buts! Get outta here - for real this time!”

Sam opened his mouth to speak again, but Max was already taking off for the stairs, rushing off to go and try to stop Kendra from doing whatever it was that she was planning to do with the energy she had stolen from Sam and stored away for her own personal use.

The dog was almost  _ positive _ that her draining him of his power was the reason she’d been able to even convert her limbs, the same way she’d been able to resurrect from the dead. It was as if her absorbing his energy had only mutated further - and if his power was making her stronger, then there was no way to stop her via conventional means. Which meant that he had to get creative.

Thankfully, creative was one of the things that Sam was best at.

With an idea in mind, he took off himself, ignoring the fire that was rapidly spreading across the corner it had started in, and was now beginning to eat away at the old, dry building.

Max’s feet thumped loudly against the wooden floors as he pursued the lady the fast that he was able to. He’d made a misstep, and ended up falling right through a hole in the floor with a startled yell, managing to cling onto the edge of it. That, however, had been the deciding factor in whether or not he was going to catch up to her - and as he struggled to get back up onto the floor again, he watched the lady take a turn and disappear around the corner.

“Dammit!” he cussed, slamming a fist against the wood floor in his frustration, grunting in annoyance as he scrambled to get his feet back up. The moment he was able to, he kicked himself forward, trying to regain his lost momentum as he resumed his chase.

He turned the corner that Kendra had taken with a slight slide along the dusty wooden floor, then bolted straight up the stairs to finally catch up to her. When he finally reached the top level, he saw the lady standing right beside a large machine.

He stopped himself abruptly, and whipped out his luger, aiming it directly at her and shouting, “Step away from the weird contraption thing-y!”

Kendra had been reaching out to put her flickering hand into the slot, and paused only to look at the lagomorph over her shoulder. She gave a mocking smile. “You really think bullets’ll do  _ anything _ to me?”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll do  _ somethin’ _ . Maybe not kill ya’. Maybe not even necessarily  _ wound _ ya’, but I’m sure they’ll sting-” She started reaching for the machine again, and Max held out a hand, shouting, “Wait! You absorb that, ya’ might not be able t’ come back!”

She whipped around, and practically spat at him, “ _ There’s nothin’ for me t’ come back to! _ ” With that, she went, and she shoved her hand right into the slot, and gritted her teeth as the electricity flowed right through her body, her veins glowing brighter than they ever had.

Max watched with widening, blinking eyes as the once human lady before him was slowly consumed with cyan-coloured energy, growing steadily inside. Her breaths began to sound more electronic - as if her voice was coming in through an 8-bit game. Soon enough, she hardly even looked like a person, but rather a vaguely human-shaped blob that flickered and sparked in a random pattern.

Eventually, her head was brushing against the ceiling of the building, and she was looking down at him with pitch black eyes that reflected no light at all. She had no other features on her face, but a wide, black smile slowly spread on her features as she chuckled quietly. Eventually, her chuckles evolved into power-crazed cackles, which distorted into noises of static from the sheer volume.

The lagomorph’s ears feel against the back of his head, looking up fearfully at the now titanic-sized entity of pure, Poltergeist-produced electricity. “Shit,” he mumbled quietly.

She raised her hand to strike - her other one still shoved into the machine and draining it for all it was worth - and in response, Max promptly raised his gun again, and started firing at her. As they struck her, she emitted a high-pitched screeching noise that was painful on the ears. They also caused bolts of lightning to come off of her form, striking in no specific pattern. They struck a part of the wall and the floor near the lagomorph, which caused fires to immediately ignite from the charred wood.

It also struck Max’s luger, making him need to shield his eyes as the barrel of the gun quite literally exploded, bits of burnt metal scattering everywhere, only one of which managed to skim past Max’s forearm, leaving only a small scratch which left a thin red line in his fur. He took one look at his now damaged gun and growled in frustration, before chucking it right at the energy beast.

Kendra merely caught it in her free hand, and snapped her hand shut firmly into a fist. When she opened it back up again, the gun was nothing more than burnt dust and gunpowder. “Can’t say I didn’t warn ya’,” she said smugly, her voice crackling slightly with her words. She then raised her hand again, and slammed it right down towards the lagomorph.

Max managed to hop out of the way right before her hand made contact with the floor where he’d just stood. However, when her palm impacted the floor, it sent off a shockwave, which caused him to get knocked to his feet and onto his stomach with a grunt. He managed to quickly get to his feet again, but as soon as he had, he found himself receiving a bolt of electricity straight to the face, knocking him back several feet, tumbling several times before sliding across the floor, and stopping just short of the nearest wall.

He sat himself up, putting a hand on his face, which stung from the assault and had a faint red mark forming, but otherwise had fairly minimal damage. He removed it so that he could shake off the spinning in his head. Before he could even fully recover, he heard a loud creaking and tearing sound, which made his ears straighten in alarm.

He looked over to see that Kendra was yanking her energy-sucking contraption out of the wall, sending splinters and dust across the floor. The only thing connecting the machine to the wall was the thick cable, which seemed to trail behind the contraption, and lead to the corner of the room, seemingly going through a hole in the floor.

With a roar, she decided to take that machine, and, as if it were a makeshift boxing glove, she went to throw a punch at him with it attached to her hand.

The lagomorph was quickly able to get to his feet, and mentally braced himself for the impact when he stuck his hands out to catch her punch. Impact came, and he slid quite a ways, but managed to get his feet firmly fixed to the floor, his legs trembling slightly, as this was taking all of his strength to endure her attack.

Her response to his lack of submission was to retract her hand somewhat, then push it against him twice as hard.

He momentarily lost his balance, and slid even further, but regained his footing and stopped with his heel pressed against the wall behind him, emitting a strained groan between clenched teeth.

Meanwhile, Sam had made his way back to the room that he’d been held captive in. The scent of smoke was beginning to grow strong again, even though he was far away from the original flame. He even thought that he was starting to see hints of smoke making its way into the room, but with how dusty and filthy the building already was, it was hard to tell. Nonetheless, by the time he’d reached the room, he felt his throat burning, and was coughing. He could hear the fight that was occurring two levels above him all the way down there, which made him briefly look up at the ceiling. His expression shifted to one of determination, and he got right down to work.

Still lying on the floor were the restraints that MJ had helped him escape from. They were attached to the button that allowed for his release, but there was a cable attached to the base of that button that trailed up and into the ceiling. It looked as though the restraints were directly attached to whatever set-up Kendra had - and that was exactly what Sam was counting on.

He was recalling back to the museum, when he’d discovered the powerbox was burnt by the lady. Despite the fact that she could drain energy, that wasn’t what she had done to the power in the museum - if she had, then chances are, she wouldn’t have left such a severe burn mark behind after the act. The only other method she could’ve done was exactly what Sam would’ve done: Overloaded the power until it burnt out completely.

That was what he was going to do to her. He didn’t want to, only because he imagined that it might be a fate worse than death, but he had no choice. It was either her or his family. And lord knew that he’d do anything for his family.

He figured that, since the restraints were made of metal, he wouldn’t have to put them back on. He’d just have to hold onto them - that was it. The actually hard part was trying to give off enough energy to do what was necessary. After all, he’d been drained quite a lot, and he wasn’t entirely sure how much energy he had currently, but…

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that his family was in danger, and if he had to put himself onto the brink of death to save them, then so fucking be it.

So, the Poltergeist grabbed onto the restraints that were made to be around his wrists, and he grasped onto them tightly. He then shut his eyes, trying to summon forward whatever tiny shreds of power he still had in him and push it to the forefront. After a few moments of this, a blue aura began to surround him - still dim compared to his usual brightness, which was like a firefly in pitch darkness, but brighter than it had been - and his eyes shot open, glowing the bright cyan they typically did.

Kendra had still been preoccupied with trying to squish the lagomorph with the machine, but the sudden surge of energy that flowed through the machine and into her made her give a distorted gasp, prompting her to retract her hand suddenly, which made Max nearly fall over from how hard he had to push back against her.

At first, he was confused as to what had made her back off so suddenly, but then he could see the streaks of white trailing up the arm that held the machine, rapidly spreading across the rest of her body. Of course, he was no less confused as to what that meant, but then he heard the loud cracks of electricity, and noticed that she seemed to steadily grow in size, her form seeming to grow less humanoid and more unstable as she did so.

While he looked up at her with wide eyes, wondering how the hell this fight could’ve somehow become even more one-sided, Kendra was observing her changing, strengthening form, with a wide, power-hungry grin on her face. “Yes…” she said quietly, taking great pleasure in this sudden boost in energy. She began to chuckle, which then grew into loud cackling.

She grew to such a size that she ended up bursting through the ceiling, causing large bits of plaster and wood to fall to the floor. Max had to jump and dodge them, covering his head and shutting his eyes to keep debris from harming him.

The moment he opened his eyes back up, there was a giant, bright blue hand coming right towards him, and before he could flee, he was being grabbed and lifted high into the air, the grip around him so tight that his ribs were on the verge of being crushed, making it difficult to breathe.

The energy monster, who was still growing in size, held the smaller creature up to her face, laughing the whole time. “I think I’ll kill you,” she said cruelly, “And then I’ll kill your husband, and the rest of your family next.”

Max shot a livid glare at her, baring his sharp teeth at her, and yelled at the very top of his lungs in his anger as he tried to wriggle free from her once again, “YOU TOUCH A HAIR ON ANY OF THEIR HEADS, AN’ I’LL END YA’ MYSELF!” His anger only made her laugh even more, her laughter only growing louder and drowning out the sounds of his enraged sounds.

And then, in the midst of the crackling and the laughter and the rapidly growing in size, the strangest thing had happened. There had been a loud  _ popping _ sound, similar to what one would hear if a lightbulb burst, and Max had felt sparks fly against his skin. The sound alone, however, had been enough to cause the both of them to be shocked into silence. Both of their gazes fell onto where they’d heard the noise come from - which was Kendra’s hand that held Max.

The very tip of her index finger was no longer there, completely vanished without any trace - and as the two continued to look at it, they watched as the next joint to that index finger suddenly vibrated and  _ popped _ as well, also leaving behind sparks that brushed against the lagomorph’s fur, but otherwise had just disappeared.

“ _ What? _ ” the lady exclaimed in genuine surprise and disbelief, opening up her hand to examine it in her shock.

This, of course, meant that Max fell back to the floor with a surprised yell, and hit against the floorboards with a pained grunt. He was quick to look back up at her, though, morbidly curious to see what was going on.

As she stared at her hand, the remaining joint to her index finger  _ popped _ into sparks, and shortly after, the tip of her ring finger went out as well. As her finger joints rapidly sparked out of existence, her gaze quickly went to the machine, and, suspecting that her draining the energy from it had something to do with this sudden plight, she let go of it as if it had been set on fire. And, not-so-surprisingly, when the machine had crashed onto the floor not so far from the lagomorph, it had begun to develop a flame from the slot that Kendra had shoved her hand in.

If the lady had thought that that would somehow stop this predicament, she was, unfortunately, incorrect, for the damage of absorbing so much electricity had already been done. Her limbs continued to pop and fizzle out of existence, her arms quickly getting whittled down to nothing but stubs, and then even those vanished, leaving nothing but her shoulders. The entire time, she shook her head, completely baffled - and, dare Max say, frightened - by what was happening to her.

The next thing to go was then one of her feet, which exploded into a bunch of sparks that nearly caught Max right in the face, and he only narrowly avoided them by crawling backwards and out of the way. She attempted to keep herself balanced on it, but with no hands to support herself with, it was proving to be a difficult task. Both her and the lagomorph watched with wide eyes as the remainder of her leg vanished, and then immediately following it was her opposite foot-

As if in slow motion, she fell forward, unable to stand upright any longer. The lagomorph had a pretty good idea as to what was about to happen next, so he scrambled to get to his feet, and the moment he did, he ran for the door, bolting out of the room before what he believed was about to happen occurred-

Kendra made impact with the floor -falling on her side, her shoulder hitting the wood first - and, as though she had been made of glass, she completely shattered. Sparks flew out of her while a shockwave exploded outwards. This shockwave had managed to catch Max right as he got his foot out of the door, and it was enough to send him flying forward several feet. 

He tumbled down the stairs that led up to the top level, but managed to stop tumbling halfway down. He picked himself up, and looked up to see there was now a large flame coming from the entrance of that room, and it engulfed the entire door frame, and was now beginning to eat away at the walls.

Despite there clearly being a somewhat rapidly approaching threat, Max couldn’t help but give a blank, thousand yard stare at the destructive sight before him, his mind still attempting to process the mess and chaos that had just unravelled before his very eyes. Just like that, Kendra had taken his husband and child - and just like that, she had flickered out of existence, her physical form destroyed, making her chances of coming back again slim to none.

And good riddance. That was karma biting her in the ass for messing with his family.

Figuring he should take off while he still wasn’t bunny barbecue, he got back to his feet and took off down the stairs, and started to head for the other set of stairs, passing by some creepy, decrepit-looking hallway that looked like a choking hazard simply via breathing-

And he stopped in his tracks when he suddenly heard the faint murmuring of his name, but he didn’t hear it within his sensitive ears (although, he did twitch them as if he had), but rather in his mind.

Now, Max’s mind reading abilities were not at all strong - he was far too scatter-brained to focus on anyone’s thoughts other than his own without the now destroyed playing card helping him focus. However, thanks to him and Sam being naturally in-tune with each other, sometimes he was able to pick up on the dog’s thoughts. Usually, he would happen to pick up some of Sam’s more impulsive or random thoughts, or accidentally tune-in while Sam was zoning out while mentally rambling on about some subject that was interesting only to him as if he were some sort of talk-show host. Or, better yet, he’d listen in while Sam was thinking about how much he loved him.

So, when he picked up on this thought - weak, brittle, practically a wisp of smoke that just barely brushed past the back of the lagomorph’s mind - it was enough to make a concerned expression appear on his face, and turn back to that creepy hallway.

Upon walking through it, and cautiously entering the room, he found his partner lying on his stomach on the floor, barely conscious, with two cuffs still held tightly in his hands. He noticed that those cuffs led to a cable - the exact same, he realized, that had been attached to the machine.

“Sam-!” Max exclaimed in a shocked whisper, immediately rushing to his side. He removed the dog’s grip from around the cuffs, and carefully rolled him over onto his back. He then placed his hands on either side of the dog’s face, gently patting one of his cheeks. “Sam. Sam, can ya’ hear me…?”

Sam’s hand twitched slightly, and he gave a quiet grunt in response, though he barely sounded like he was mentally there. “‘M sorry,” he managed to mumble. “I know ya’ said t-to-”

Max - having realized what must have happened, between Sam laying here and Kendra being reduced to sparks - softly shushed him. “It’s okay...it’s okay. Ya’ did good, Sam. Ya’ got ‘er. Thank you.”

Sam was too weak to reply, having spent the last of his energy on making sure the rampaging energy monster that he’d accidentally created was stopped.

The lagomorph could feel the temperature rising, and could smell the strong stench of smoke. So, he merely said to his partner, “Let’s get outta here - before the whole friggin’ place burns down.” Sam nodded only slightly, and started to move- “No, no, don’t get up, Firefly...I’ll carry ya’ to the car.”

The dog looked up at him with those dim, distant eyes. “Thanks,” he murmured.

Max only gave a nod and a smile, before proceeding to get his hands underneath the dog, and pick him up with only a little bit of effort, bridal-style. “Y’know, this is really how our weddin’ should be,” he joked as he walked out of the room. “Me carryin’ ya’ down a flamin’ aisle. Seems pretty fitting.”

“You...you crack me up, li’l buddy,” Sam managed to get out, his voice raspy.

. . .

The dog and lagomorph eventually walked out of that abandoned building which burned and fell apart around them, and made their way to the DeSoto. “Did ya’ leave MJ in the car?” Max questioned with a raised brow, unable to see the baby rabbit inside the vehicle.

Before Sam could even answer that question, MJ managed to answer it for him by suddenly jumping straight up the air in the window. “I sure did,” he answered with a small chuckle, before launching himself in a bit of a coughing fit.

Max’s ears straightened, worry etching into his brows again. “Hey, take it easy,” he murmured quietly, “Let’s just get ya’ in the car…”

He helped the dog onto his feet, still supporting him with one arm, using the other to reach out and open the car door. As soon as he opened up the door, MJ, who’d managed to untangle himself from Sam’s jacket, hopped forward, and his lagomorph father was only just able to catch him in his free hand.

The baby rabbit’s teeth chattered in a contented purr, rubbing his face right into his dad’s soft dewlap. Max couldn’t help but give a soft chuckle, murmuring, “Hey, sweetie...Papá missed you, too.”

“I can...get myself in,” Sam said. Max gave him an uncertain look, but removed his hand from the dog’s lower back anyway, bringing it to the back of his baby’s head to gently stroke it. He watched as his partner leaned an arm against the side of the vehicle, lingering there for a moment before falling forward into the backseat with a  _ thwumf _ .

Max waited for him to crawl further in and curl up in a rather pitiful ball before shutting the door on him, then hopping into the driver’s side. With MJ still cuddling right into his dewlap, his eyes shut with a little smile on his face, Max turned up the radio, allowing some lowkey, classic rock song to drown out the crackles of flame from the building behind him. And with that, he drove away from all the destruction, him and his family exhausted, but otherwise intact.

. . .

The hours that the pups had spent at Sybil’s house had begun to grow long, and eventually, the woman sitting back on her couch, leaning her elbow on the arm of it while staring at the TV with blank, tired eyes. Georgie, who had returned home from school quite a while ago, was leaning against her, fast asleep. Piled right on top of his stone legs were the pups, who were also napping, their arms still wrapped around each other.

Sybil’s blinks began to slow, exhaustion beginning to take hold. She gave the children one last glance, before letting her head lean back onto the couch’s cushions, and letting her eyes shut…

Only for there to be a knock at the door that made her shoot her eyes wide open, and which caused the pups to suddenly wake up with a bunch of barks, which, in turn, made Georgie sit up with a jolt.

“Mmm, mama-?” the boy mumbled sleepily, as the pups all scrambled to hop off of the couch and run to the door, yapping their heads off.

“Just hang on a second, kiddo,” Sybil replied with a yawn, slowly getting up from the couch. “That’s probably their dads at the door.”

Surely enough, after walking past all of the yapping pups and opening the door, she found the duo standing at her door with their son in the lagomorph’s arms - and blinked in surprise at their extremely disheveled appearance.

The pups’ happiness to see their parents and youngest sibling, however, outweighed any such surprise at their appearance, as there were scattered exclamations of “Daddy!” and “MJ!” from them. The latter particularly coming from Nina, who immediately went up to Max and stretched out her arms.

“Nini!” MJ shouted joyfully, with a small squeal in his voice, and stretched his arms out to his eldest sister. Max gladly placed his rabbit son into his daughter’s arms, and she hugged him tightly. Her fellow dog siblings began to wrap her arms around her, forming a group hug.

“What on earth happened with  _ you _ two?” Sybil asked, baffled. “You look like you got caught in a popcorn machine that caught on fire.”

“Well,” Max said, unaware of the fact that his face currently looked as if a bad science experiment had blown up right in his face, “At least one of those is right.”

“Huh.”

“Never mind,” Sam chimed in, coughing a couple of times into his fist. “Thanks for- thanks for watchin’ the kids. I know it’s- it was last minute.”

“Yeah, it was no problem at all- are you  _ sure _ you don’t need, like...a doctor or a hospital or something? I mean, Max looks burnt, and  _ you _ sound like ya’ just smoked a whole pack of cigarettes.”

“Yeah, nah, don’t worry ‘bout it,” Max replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Nothin’ that a shower and a nap can’t fix!”

“That’s not really- actually, y’know what, that’s fine. If you need anything else, just call, alright? Stay safe.”

“That won’t be too much of a problem,” Sam replied, readjusting his tie.

With that, they said their goodbyes to Sybil, and the pups, still huddling closely to Nina so that they could be by MJ, followed behind their father’s footsteps and to the car. Max got back in the driver’s seat, while Sam crashed again in the back. The pups decided to pile up in the back as well, sitting or lying on top of Sam. A couple of them even scooted up so that they could place little puppy kisses on Sam’s face.

To this, Sam chuckled, and reached up a slightly trembling hand to pat his kids’ heads. “I missed ya’, too, babies,” he said gently, leaning his head forward to place a little kiss right on one of their noses.

“How come you were- you were hidin’ for so long, daddy?” Sophie asked, tilting her head.

Sam wasn’t sure if that was as confusing as it sounded without context, or if he was just really out of it, or both. “Huh.”

Max, quickly recalling the white lie Papierwaite had told them from earlier that day, chimed in before any of the pups could ask any further questions, “He was hidin’ for so long, he forgot he was hiding! I had t’ save him!”

“Whoa,” the girl pup said quietly in awe. “Tha’s epic…”

“It sure is!” Max happily exclaimed in reply, the whole family heading on the road for home, the sunset casting a glare on the windshield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter will be posted sometime during December 25th!


	18. In Sickness and In Health

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After returning home from that stressful incident with Kendra, all Sam wants to do is sleep. Before he does, he finally answers the question Max asked him prior to the museum's power shutting off.

Upon the family returning to the comfort of their own home, Max had made it a point to dial a restaurant and place an order for delivery. He’d been planning on making them a hot, proper meal, but after the day they’d all had, there was no way he had the energy or patience to prepare and cook anything at that hour. He couldn’t even remember what he’d planned on making for supper, but whatever it had been, it could wait until tomorrow. Or maybe three days from now, after they’d all reawoken from a pleasant hibernation. Whichever one came first.

He had waited until he’d bottle-fed MJ, for the takeout to arrive and for him to plate some for the pups before heading into the bathroom. He spent several minutes in there washing himself off, pressing a cool cloth to his various wounds, wiping away the stiff, singed fur, letting it fall into the sink beneath him, eventually rubbing some ointment on the affected areas. It was a pretty sloppy job overall, but he couldn’t care less - he’d heal anyway, much faster and smoother than the typical person who’d suffered wounds such as his. It was one of many benefits to being an Elder God - even when suffering minor to moderate shock burns, it was the equivalent of a small papercut to him.

After that, he’d gathered a damp cloth, and another plate of food for Sam, who’d half stumbled, half dragged his feet up the stairs and headed up to the bedroom as soon as they’d returned home. When the lagomorph slowly opened the door, the room was dark, but he could make out the outline of his husband curled up on the bed, lying on top of the blankets with his back facing the door.

Figuring that the dog had already fallen asleep (and, frankly, he couldn’t blame the poor guy), he had decided to place the plate onto the side table beside the bed, the fork gently clinking against the wood as he set it onto the plate. He then circled around the bed so that he was on the opposite side, and slowly climbed on, careful not to accidentally awake his partner - although, with how softly the dog was breathing through his nose, he imagined that it would be hard to do that - and took the damp cloth, and placed it neatly on Sam’s head.

He then turned his back to Sam, intending to hop off of the bed, but found himself stopping and perking his ears up when he heard the dog murmur, “Hey.” Max turned his head and looked at him over his shoulder. Sam hadn’t budged, but his eyes were indeed open and looking right at him, albeit appearing blurry and exhausted.

The lagomorph cracked a small smile. “Hey, yourself,” he said quietly. He then crawled back over to his husband, settling himself on his side beside him, and placing a hand right on his cheek. “How’re ya’ feelin’, babe?”

“Mm, tired,” Sam mumbled in response. “But other than that...fine.”

“That’s good.” He looked back at the cloth he’d just placed on the dog’s head, and laughed a little as he removed it between his thumb and index finger. “Sorry if I, uh, woke ya’ with this - just thought it couldn’t hurt…”

Sam responded by gently grabbing his wrist, murmuring, “No, no, leave it. Feels nice.” Wordlessly, Max did as he requested, placing the cloth back over his head. “The kids-?”

“Fed and well taken care of,” Max reassured him, stroking his thumb along the brown fur of his beloved partner. “Even got a plate for ya’ right behind ya’, whenever you’re ready for it.”

“Surprisingly, that might not be for a while.”

“Then it’s a good thing I got ya’ hamburger steak an’ fries,” he replied.

The dog chuckled a little, staring at the bed with half-lidded eyes, then looked back up at Max, lifting his head up a little. “Ya’ said ya’ got in trouble with the cops on the way back. ‘S that somethin’ we should worry about?”

“ _ Pffft _ ,” the lagomorph scoffed. “Nah. I know they’re stupid, but there’s gonna be some poor bastard doin’ an autopsy that’ll get a bunch o’ stuffing instead of the usual gore.”

“Poor great-grandpa Sameth’s statue,” Sam muttered, shaking his head slightly. “Never saw it comin’.”

“Least Papierwaite doesn’t need it anymore. Stinks that that Maximus is alone now, though.” The dog hummed in agreement. Max then leaned forward, and placed a gentle kiss right on his tired partner’s nose. “Don’t worry about a thing, Firefly. You’ve done a great job protectin’ our boy...you deserve your rest.”

With that, Sam lowered his head back onto the pillow, allowing a contented sigh to escape through his nose, shutting his eyes. For a second time, Max thought that he was asleep, but before he could do or say anything after a short pause, the dog mumbled, “Yes.”

Max blinked twice, twitching an ear. “Yes?” he repeated, somewhat confused.

“I never got t’ answer your question ‘fore I got dognapped,” Sam murmured sleepily, in a way that almost made it hard for Max to tell A) what he was saying and B) whether or not this was the babbling of a half-awake canine. “An’ the answer to it is...yes…”

The lagomorph’s ears slowly straightened up at that in realization as to what Sam was referring to: The question as to whether or not he wanted to get married again. Max knew what the answer was going to be the entire time, but regardless of the fact, he found himself giving a wide, toothy grin, and placing a smooch right onto the dog’s lips. When he pulled away, he quietly said, “I’m glad t’ hear it.” He resumed gently stroking the dog’s fur, and, after a moment of thought, decided to jokingly murmur, “Guess that means the wedding dress I got won’t go t’ waste, then.”

Sam flicked an ear. “When on earth did you-?”

“Right as we were ‘bout t’ leave for your parents’ place,” Max confessed.

“Thought ya’ said it was a shank.”

“It was a shank! The wedding dress came with it for free,” he joked.

“You crack me up, li’l...budd...” Before he could finish his sentence, Max could hear the dog’s soft breathing resume.

Max’s smile widened a little bit more, his expression nothing short of pure, unfiltered endearment and love for the love of his life. He placed another kiss on the dog’s nose, which received only a slight twitch of the dog’s eyelids.

As he remained lying on his side in front of Sam, continuing to gently stroke his cheek, he heard a small creak of the door, which made him glance up to see the pups in the doorway. He put a finger to his lips, and said quietly, “Daddy’s asleep. Do you guys need something?”

Instead of verbally responding, the pups proceeded to walk towards the bed, circling around it before Frank, Teddy and Sophie started climbing up onto it. Cab attempted to try and climb up as well, but it was clear that he was unable to, so Max abandoned his place beside his tired husband to help his other children get onto the bed with them. As soon as he’d gotten the last of the Mastiff pups onto the bed, and held MJ (who snuggled right into his dewlap) in his arms, he turned and saw that the pups were already stealing his spot beside Sam. They were snuggling right up to their dog dad as close as they could, even forming a little puppy pile on top of each other just to do it.

Max gave an amused huff through his nose, shaking his head a little. “Li’l hellions,” he murmured quietly. With the tiny rabbit in his arms, he grabbed ahold of the blanket, and pulled it up and over his family, before lying himself back down. He wrapped his free arm around the puppy pile and placed his hand gently on Sam’s arm, before allowing his eyes to shut, and drift off to sleep with the rest of his family.

. . .

**Three weeks later**

“ _ MJ _ ,” Max groaned as he tried to keep the fidgeting, babbling baby still, a small, white shirt in his other hand.

MJ already had a pair of black pants on, which had been difficult enough to get on, but he was absolutely refusing to keep still in order for Max to get the rest of his little wedding outfit on. And, frankly, he seemed to be absolutely enjoying annoying his lagomorph father, as if it were a wonderful little game. Max figured this, mostly by the fact that the little scamp was making happy little noises, and seemed to be squirming in exaggerated motions just for the sole purpose of making Max’s life a little harder.

“MJ!” Max repeated for the umpteenth time, yet equally as exasperated, “Just let me put your shirt on,  _ please- _ ” He’d leaned forward, quickly managing to get the shirt over the baby rabbit’s head, but ended up catching a foot right to the eye, making him recoil and slap a hand over it. “ _ Ow! _ ”

The only response he got in regard to his pain was a joyous squeal from the small rabbit, who kicked his little feet out still.

“Thanks for the sympathy, kid,” the lagomorph muttered, though a small smile appeared on his features nonetheless. He reached forward to slip MJ’s arms through the short sleeves, and it seemed that the kid was amused enough, because he made no further attempt to squirm away from his father.

While Max finished up dressing the wiggly little rabbit, Sam came into the bedroom, sighing deeply, running an arm across his forehead. “Finally managed t’ get Cab in his suit,” he mumbled. He then leaned against the doorframe, watching his husband dress their youngest son, and asked jokingly, “You gettin’ beat up in here, too, or what?”

“Oh, definitely,” Max replied. “Our li’l kick boxer here decided t’ try an’ give me a black eye right before the ceremony!” After finishing getting MJ’s outfit on, he lifted the baby rabbit up, and said to him jokingly, “More kangaroo than rabbit, apparently! Kickin’ me right in the face like that.”

“ _ Eeeeaaaa! _ ” the baby squealed happily, which earned him a well deserved smooch on his adorable little cheek. This immediately wiped the smile off his face, however, as he scrunched his face up tightly, humming in annoyance.

“Least it wouldn’t be the first time we showed up to our own weddin’ scratched up and bruised,” Sam said. He wasn’t even saying it half-kiddingly - it really wouldn’t have been the first time.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Max held the baby rabbit closer, allowing the little guy to cling onto and bury his face in his dewlap. He then looked over to his partner, and caught him smiling, and looking at him with half-lidded eyes. The lagomorph gave a crooked smile, raising a brow. “What’re ya’ lookin’ at me like that for?”

Sam gave a small shrug. “You look beautiful.”

Max was wearing the wedding dress that he swore up and down came for free with the custom shank he’d supposedly received. It was multicoloured, with pinks, greens, oranges, purples and blues, and had a frilly skirt to it that was clearly too big for the lagomorph. Of course, to both him and Sam, it was nothing more than just various shades of blue and yellow, but hey, it still looked incredibly pretty to Sam.

The lagomorph freed a hand to lift up his skirt a smidge and do a little curtsy. “Why,  _ thank _ you, Mr. Conejo-Barkley.” He straightened his posture, then pointed at the other, and said, “You’re lookin’ pretty sexy yourself, king!”

Sam wore a dress with a white blouse, blue sleeves that fell past his shoulders, and a pink skirt that went as far as his ankles, with a necklace that possessed a small, blue gem to top off the look. Again, the colours were limited to both the dog and lagomorph, and only appeared as various shades of blue.

He could only respond to Max’s compliment with an amused chuckle, a small glow of blue appearing across his cheeks. “Thanks, li’l buddy,” he replied. “I appreciate it.” He then stopped leaning on the doorframe, and placed his hands on his hips. “Well, if all the kids are dressed, then I suppose we should take off now, considerin’ we’re about-” He glanced over at a clock. “Thirty minutes late to our own wedding.”

“Wow, only thirty? Guess there ain’t any rush t’ get there, then. I mean, we were an hour late t’ our  _ first _ weddin’ ‘cause we were too busy makin’ out! Say, we should do the exact same thing!”

“Would love to, Max, but I think we oughta go before Sophie decides t’ tear up her dress.” Pause. “...Again.”

Max gave a loud groan, feigning annoyance. “ _ Ffffiiiiiinnnne _ ,” he said, drawing out the word for a good twenty seconds, rolling his eyes, then muttering, “We can just go now.”

Sam cracked an amused smile. “You crack me up, li’l buddy.” He then proceeded to walk over to his partner to pat the space between Max’s ears, ruffling it a little. “Don’t worry your li’l head - we’ll be doin’ plenty o’ smoochin’ once we get down that aisle.”

“Hey, hey, watch the ears! Took me five whole minutes to get those straightened!”

The dog responded to this by crouching down and kissing the top of Max’s head instead, which earned a giggle from the lagomorph. Sam, seeing that MJ had removed his face from Max’s dewlap to look at his dog father, decided to press a kiss to the baby rabbit’s forehead as well. This only earned him a sudden pap on the nose, with MJ saying firmly “No!” which earned a laugh from both of his dads.

Shortly after, the two dads found themselves getting their rowdy kids in the car, with a little bit of difficulty seeing as some of them were still opposed to being in their fancy little outfits. In fact, Teddy teleported away about three times before deciding to suddenly fall asleep, making putting him in the backseat of the vehicle much easier. Cab had hid underneath the car. Nina had tried to bite Sam, just as Sophie had playfully attempted to whack her lagomorph father with her toy sword. But, regardless of all of that, they managed to pile the kids up in the backseat, and hopped in themselves. With the DeSoto decorated with flowers and ribbon for the occasion, it zipped out of the driveway, some of those flowers flying off and fluttering to the concrete, before turning and zooming down the street instead.

. . .

The guests of the wedding were already seated inside the building that had been reserved specifically for the ceremony, waiting patiently for the grooms to appear, with...very little sign of them showing up, so far. Superball had been standing up there, ready to assist in officiating the ceremony, for at least an hour.

A good majority of the guests there weren’t all that surprised - after all, this wouldn’t be the first time that the happy couple would be late to their very own wedding. But while they sat patiently, some of the newcomers - particularly, Fen and Morry, who had been invited by the lagomorph via a note left near the alley they frequented outside of a restaurant, and who were in their seats looking nothing less than confused.

Eventually, Fen leaned towards Flint, who they had taken a seat next to since he was the only person other than Sam and Max themselves that they were familiar with, and said, “Excuse me?” The man, dressed in semi-formal attire with a dress shirt and a tie (so, basically his usual attire, but a little fancier), looked over at them. “Are we...early? Or does it usually take this long for the brides and grooms to show?” They asked, mostly, because they hadn’t really attended a wedding before. Actually, this was their first, to be quite honest.

Flint couldn’t help but crack an amused smile, a chuckle coming with it. “Nah, Sam and Max are just good like this. They like t’ take their time, an’ with the kids, they’re probably takin’ even longer.”

“Oh,” they replied, blinking. “I see.”

“Not like we’re complaining,” Morry chimed in. He was wearing a little bowtie around his neck, just as Fen was. His eye was still shut, as it, unfortunately, had never recovered from its trauma. “‘S not like we had anything else t’ do today.”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Fen agreed. “It was just an inquiry-”

“You’re good, fellas,” Flint reassured. “However, knowin’ them guys, we ain’t gonna be waitin’ too much longer.” He checked the watch wrapped around his wrist, and said, “They’re gonna be crashin’ right in in three, two…”

Before he even got to ‘one’, there was the squeal of wheels that was so loud, it prompted everyone sitting in the building to turn and look towards the entrance. Shortly after that squeal of tires scraping rubber against the pavement, there was the sound of a single car door opening, before the yapping of excited puppies followed. And shortly after that, the entrance doors to the building were suddenly swinging right open, with said excited puppies running straight into the building, with goofy little grins on their faces, and a little baby bunny following closely behind them.

While Fen and Morry were shooting smiles towards those pups, always glad to see their fellow ex-facility members the happiest and healthiest they’d ever been, Flint only glanced over at them, and said, “Told ya’.”

As the babies were running around, and there were a few of the guests - Geek, Mama Bosco, and Veronica, in particular - getting up to try and retrieve them, the doors swung open again, the handle on one of them managing to get lodged right into the wall thanks to Max being the one to open it, full-force. “Here comes the  _ grrooooms! _ ” he announced in a sing-songy voice.

“Traffic was killer,” Sam casually said after entering after Max. Of course, this was just something he’d said at every weddingesque celebration they’d had, since they were late to every single one of them, and it was never once because of traffic. He, however, still found it funny, so he kept saying it anyway.

The lagomorph assisted in retrieving the pups and handing them off to their grandmother. As soon as he finished with that, he then quickly made his way up to where Agent Superball was standing, only nearly tripping over his oversized skirt once. Once he was standing there, he looked to Sam, who was walking up the aisle behind him, and made a gesture for him to come on, shouting, “Let’s go, let’s get this shotgun wedding goin’!”

Sybil leaned over to Mama Bosco, who had retook her seat just a minute ago, and said, “Y’know, I think that’s the closest he’d ever been to getting the meaning of that right. Not quite there, but close.” Mama Bosco could only nod in agreement.

When finally took his place opposite of Max, he reached his hands out for the lagomorph to take - and the lagomorph took them with a wide, toothy smile on his face, his hands disappearing in Sam’s much larger ones. Superball looked between them as he said in his usual monotone, “If I may begin, sirs?”

“You may,” Sam said to him, before looking back at Max with a loving look. This earned a spark of joy in Max’s bright pink eyes.

The agent gave a nod, then began, “Welcome, family, friends and loved ones. We gather here today to celebrate the wedding of Samuel Conejo-Barkley, and Maximiliano Barkley-Conejo-”

“Again,” Max decided to chime in humorously.

“Again,” Superball stated, supposedly in agreement. “Which is why they thank you for your presence here today, and for your continued support in their dedicated relationship, to which they stand here today to prove that their bond is still as strong as ever.”

“Hey, uh-” Sam leaned a little closer to him, and said, “Do ya’ think we can skip all the fancy-schmancy stuff and just get t’ the part we’ve all been waitin’ for?”

The agent had already been prepared to skip those parts, since the dog and lagomorph always seemed to ask for him to skip most of the formalities, but nonetheless, he nodded and said, “Of course, sir.” He cleared his throat, and continued, “Samuel, do you accept Maximiliano’s hand in marriage? Do you promise to stay by his side, in sickness and in health, through thick and through thin, for as long as you live?”

Sam found himself running his thumb over Max’s knuckles, his smile widening a touch. “I do,” he said softly.

Superball looked at Max. “Do you, Maximilian-”

“Yes!” Max blurted out, his tail twitching slightly from side-to-side in eager anticipation. His interruption admittedly made some of the guests laugh, along with Sam.

“Then,” the agent continued, “If someone could pass me the rings?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sam said, instinctively going to reach into his pocket - only to suddenly remember with a perk of his ears that his dress definitely didn’t have pockets. “Wait, do-” He looked at Max with a raised brow. “Do you have the-?”

“No?” Max replied. “I thought you would.”

“I thought so too. So, where-?”

There was the sound of a quiet shift of a chair, before everyone glanced over to see Alan approaching his son and son-in-law with MJ in his arms. “Seems t’ me,” the elderly dog said, “That your li’l guy’s got some sticky fingers.” He then lifted up the baby rabbit to show off the fact that he had a ring in each of his little hands, and was currently chewing on the one that was meant to be Sam’s ring.

Both the dog and lagomorph blinked at the sight, before laughing a little. “Gosh,” Max said as he pried the rings from MJ’s hands. He then jokingly said, “Just like his great-great-grandpa, Maximus.”

“That  _ is _ certainly who he gets his name from,” Sam said, mostly kidding around. Once Max had managed to get the rings from MJ, the dog nodded to his dad in thanks. Alan simply gave a nod in return, a warm smile with it, then turned and walked away to take both himself and his grandson back to their seat.

The couple turned to each other, and slipped their respective rings onto their proper place on each other’s ring fingers. They resumed holding hands, and so Superball resumed his speech. “By the power of your love and commitment,” he said, “I now pronounce you as husbands - again. You may kiss the groom-”

The agent barely had the chance to get the words out before Max decided to shoot out his hands and grab ahold of Sam by his sides. He then pulled the dog down into a dip, and, just as Sam was placing a hand on the lagomorph’s cheek, he went in and placed a big smooch on Sam’s lips. This earned an applause from the guests, along with a few joyous whistles.

When Sam and Max pulled away from their kiss, they pressed their foreheads together and laughed like the lovesick fools they were.

. . .

Although there was music playing loudly over the speakers, it wasn’t enough to drown out the chatter of the guests socializing with each other. While the adults mingled - including Sam and Max, who were speaking with Frankie whilst her partner, Girl Stinky, was more standing off to the side on her phone (and yes, it was a surprise to them that she’d decided to join) - the pups were busy running around, chasing each other. They weaved through furniture and through the legs of guests, yapping at each other as they raced, occasionally bumping into one another - sometimes on purpose, sometimes not.

As they ran around in the back area of the building their dads had held their wedding in, Sophie, who was in the lead of her brothers and sisters, looked over to the side, perked her ears up, and stopped right in her tracks. This resulted in her siblings suddenly crashing right into her, so not only did she tumble over, but so did the rest of her dog siblings, landing right on top of her in a little puppy pile. MJ, wanting to be included, hopped up to the puppy pile, wiggled his nose as he stared, then proceeded to flop over onto his side as if he had also tumbled over.

Nina was the first one to wriggle herself free from the pile, popping out of it with an annoyed little grumble. As Sophie was also getting up and shaking herself off, Nina trotted up to her. “Why’d ya’ stop?” she questioned.

Sophie merely stared at her in the few seconds it took for the rest of their siblings to get back up, before turning her gaze in the direction she’d been looking in before they crashed, and pointing a paw. Her siblings followed her gaze, and promptly raised their ears in intrigue.

Morry was busy nuzzling Fen’s cheek, the two of them seated on one of those plastic, white lawn chairs. “Havin’ fun, babe?”

“Mhm,” Fen hummed in response, placing his chin on top of their partner’s head. “Shame we haven’t gotten a chance to talk to the lovebirds, yet.”

“We’ll get the chance,” he reassured them. “They just got a lot on their plates, what with it bein’ their big day.”

“Well,  _ next _ big day. Certainly up there on the list of...um. Do you remember how many times Flint said they were married?”

“No, I don’t think s-”

He was interrupted by the loud sound of yapping, which made them both raise their ears, and look over.

Morry’s eye then widened upon seeing the pups running towards them at full speed. “ _ Holy-! _ ” He instinctively hopped up onto the back of the lawn chair, staring at them with a look of fear in his eye, his short, blue-grey fur standing on end.

“Oh, Morry!” Fen said excitedly, “It’s the kids!”

“The wh- huh?”

“The  _ kids _ ,” the squirrel repeated, as the children stopped before them, their own tails wagging in excitement. “What other kids do you know?”

“I dunno, just th- oh!” A small smile appeared on his face once he’d caught on. He then proceeded to hop back down onto the seat beside his partner. “Hey, yeah, I remember these guys! God, it’s been so long. Surprised they even recognize us!”

“Of  _ course _ they do! I mean, sure, they were young, and we didn’t exactly see them often, so there’s...not really much of an ‘of course’ about it, but still!” Fen turned their attention back to the pups who were sniffing them and had their tongues lolled out as they panted happily. “My, look at how big you’ve all gotten, too!”

“That the fuzzball, back there?” Morry asked, craning his neck to look past the much larger pups to look at the baby rabbit, whose poofy little tail was also wagging. “You’d never know he was so tiny before.”

“Well, he’s still pretty small. But I agree, certainly not like before.”

“Now he’s  _ bigger _ than a cotton ball!” came Max’s voice. “Now, he’s more like a small ball o’ pizza dough.”

The mouse, squirrel, and the pups all perked their ears up upon hearing the voice, and turned to see the lagomorph and dog approaching them. Sam was holding up his skirt as he walked, whereas Max simply allowed his to drag behind him through the grass. As soon as the pups saw their dads, their faces lit right up, and they trotted right over to them, swarming by their feet.

“We came right over when we heard the kids yappin’,” Sam explained, kneeling down to pick up Sophie, who had her arms stretched up. He then added jokingly, “Figured we’d come over t’ make sure they weren’t tryin’ t’ eat ya’.”

Fen’s face lit right up, a smile spreading on their features. “Max! Sam! It’s good t’ see you two!”

“Likewise!” Max replied cheerfully,scooping up said ‘small ball of pizza dough’ into his arms as well. “Sorry that I could’ve give ya’ your invitation in person, you two were apparently out.”

“Oh, it’s fine! We appreciate it either way!”

“You two look like you’re doin’ well!” Sam commented with a pleasant smile. “Haven’t had too many issues since you got outta the facility, have ya’?”

“Nah,” Morry responded with a shake of his head. “Generally, we’ve been able t’ keep to ourselves, go our own way.”

“We’ve kept our heads down in case any law enforcement decided to snoop around,” Fen chimed in. “But honestly, I haven’t heard too much about the case since we got out.”

“Lost interest, I guess,” Max said, though he threw a knowing glance towards his husband.

“T’ be fair, they never had much on us to begin with,” the mouse said with a shrug. “I don’t think there was ever much t’ worry about.” Max hummed in agreement.

“So,” Fen spoke up, looking at the pups, “You took these little ones in, did you?”

“We sure did!” the lagomorph replied. “I mean, how could we  _ not _ take these li’l guys in? ‘S not like there were many other options.”

“Well, it seems like you’re taking good care of them!” They flicked their tail back and forth while speaking. “They seem very healthy and happy! And, might I add, they are absolutely  _ adorable _ in their little outfits.”

“They absolutely are!”

“Honestly,” Sam said, “We probably all appreciate their outfits more than they do.”

“ _ Yeeeah, _ ” Max agreed, “They’ll probably tear it all t’ pieces as soon as they get ‘em off. But hey, least we can do is get a photo before they do!”

Immediately after the lagomorph had said that, Sam’s mother was calling from quite a distance away, “Boys! Hurry your butts up on over here, it’s group photo time!”

The dog and lagomorph exchanged a glance. Sam cracked an amused smile, and murmured, “Speakin’ o’ which.”

Cab, upon hearing his grandmother’s voice, had decided to go trotting over in her direction, which prompted his other brothers to follow him. Sophie, upon seeing her siblings go, squirmed in Sam’s arms, which prompted him to kneel back down to put her down. As soon as her feet hit the grass, she bolted off towards the rest of her little pack with a yap. The only one who had stayed behind was Nina, and it was only because MJ decided that he was content with staying in his lagomorph father’s arm, so she was content staying by Max’s side.

Max started heading in the direction as the rest of his children, and Sam followed suit about a few steps before pausing. He then turned to look at the squirrel and mouse. “You two comin’?”

“Ah- yes!” Fen said. Sam offered them a hand to save them having to walk the whole way. While Fen climbed up to his shoulder, Morry decided to rest in his palm. The dog used his free hand to lift his skirt, and then went towards where all the rest of the guests were beginning to congregate in preparation for the photo.

The married couple situated themselves in front of the numerous other guests, and tried to get some assistance in keeping the pups still for the photo. While they did that, Sam’s parents were both at the camera that stood on a tall tripod, positioned a few feet from the rest of the guests. 

“Honey,” Alan said patiently as he was fiddling with the camera, Veronica standing close next to him, looking past his shoulder at the camera’s screen. “I got it, okay?”

“It’s too close-up,” Veronica protested.

“Yeah, I know, just let me-”

“You’re gonna cut off the people on the end.”

“Ronnie, I  _ know _ .” He clicked a button twice. “There, how about-”

“Now it’s too far away, it looks weird-”

He looked directly at her. “Are you just sayin’ that ‘cause you wanna do this?”

She stared right back at him. “Yes.”

He exhaled a sigh, but one that contained amusement to his wife’s attitude. And she must have detected that amusement, because she cracked a small smile. “Never change, hon,” was all he said, before stepping aside to allow her to work the camera instead.

Max was looking at Georgie, who was holding Frank in his arms. Him and Sam figured he’d be the best person to hold onto him since his limbs were made of stone, and the likelihood of Frank, the largest pup, wriggling free from his grip was low. “Ya’ got ‘im, kid?” the lagomorph asked him, MJ still in his arms and chewing at his dad’s thumb.

“He’s jus’ lickin’ my arm,” Georgie stated. And, indeed, Frank was too preoccupied licking at the boy’s arm to bother to try and free himself from his grasp.

“Yeah, he does that sometimes.”

Sam turned his gaze over to Geek, who had ahold of Teddy while he carried both Sophie and Cab in each of his arms (Nina, again, was content to stay beside Max while he held MJ, so she didn’t need to be held in place). “He seems pretty relaxed now,” he commented.

“Yeah,” the girl replied, returning his gaze. “Only after he teleported about three times.”

“He certainly likes t’ do that.”

Alan stood beside his wife with his hands in his pockets, watching her with amusement as she stuck out her tongue whilst fiddling with the camera. “ _ Aaand _ ...there!” she said at last. She immediately turned to her husband, and waved him to go with the rest of the group. “Go on, go, go!”

While the Irish Wolfhound jogged back over to the rest of the guests, Veronica promptly set the timer, then followed behind him at equally a brisk pace.

When she reached her position located just behind her son, she leaned forward and said to him, “Hand him to me,” referring to Cab. Sam handed the pup, who was sticking his tongue out, to her without a second thought.

“Alright, everyone,” Alan called just loud enough so everyone could hear him. “Smile for the camera!”

Not so long after that, the camera’s light flashed brightly.

. . .

The wedding continued on well into the evening, with music, food and dancing. Overall, all of the guests seemed to have a fun time, and, even better, the pups seemed to have enjoyed their first real party. Well, perhaps just a little  _ too _ much fun considering somehow, in some way, Cab had managed to find himself sitting right into the punchbowl. Not that he accidentally fell in while trying to grab the snacks off of the table or anything - no, he actually, deliberately sat in it, and when his dads had caught him in the act, all he did was stick his tongue out, tilting his head to one side. So, unfortunately, while Sam and Max were the grooms, they ended up having to leave their own wedding a little early, because, hey, they were still dads.

As they drove their way back, the sun had set, leaving only the night sky. The pups were beginning to grow fidgety, and although their house wasn’t all that much further away, the dog and lagomorph felt that there was no harm in settling in at the office instead.

The moment they entered the apartment building, the pups immediately started running up the stairs excitedly. They always loved to stop by the office, if only to make a mess of the place. While the other pups were going up multiple stairs in a short amount of time, MJ was only able to hop up one at a time, making him much slower than the rest of them. Naturally, Sophie noticed this, went back down the stairs, grabbed him by the back of his shirt, then started carrying him up. Cab was leaving sticky footprints behind him.

Their dads were following behind them at a steady pace, not in any particular rush seeing as they were wearing dresses with such long skirts. Not that it mattered much, since if they didn’t reach the office first to unlock it, the pups would manage to bust in without them just fine.

After Max wrapped an arm around his husband, Sam said, “Well, li’l buddy, there ya’ have it - now we can say that we got married, an’ our kids got t’ witness it.”

“Mm, indeed we did, Sam! I expect your parents are gonna be handin’ over a lot o’ video primarily of the kids dancin’ eventually.”

He laughed a little. “Yeah. Dad sure was hoverin’ ‘round with that camera a lot.”

The lagomorph looked up at him. “Ya’ think they’ll be as mad once they see our eyes glowin’ in the group photo like a couple o’ possessed animals?”

“I think they expect that of us by now. And hey, technically I  _ am _ a possessed animal, ya’ goofball.” Max giggled in response, which, of course, made Sam crack a smile. Without warning, the dog paused in his step to swiftly crouch down and scoop up his partners into his arms, poofy skirt and all.

This made Max’s giggles go up an extra pitch, before he wrapped his arms around Sam’s shoulders, pulling himself closer to nuzzle his fluffy cheek to the dog’s. He gave a content sigh, then, as the dog continued up the stairs, murmured, “You really sure about takin’ this hiatus from work, Sam? Seems like a big jump for us.”

Sometime after the incident with Kendra, Sam had made the decision for him and Max to take a break from the job for a while to recover. Then, he continued to take his break to sit and think about what he wished to do moving forward. Obviously, the incident with Kendra had been horrible, and though they hadn’t been on any job when it happened, it made Sam reflect on some of their more dangerous cases. The ones that took hours to days to even weeks or months at a time, with no definitive end in sight, and enemies threatening their lives at every turn. Sure, when it was just him and Max, it was fine, but with them being dads? Hell, they were lucky enough that the pups stayed rather clueless to the danger around them, but to do it all the time? And lose hours of spending time with the pups, leaving them in the hands of babysitters?

Sam had ultimately come to the conclusion that no, that just simply wouldn’t do. While they couldn’t just not work at  _ all _ (after all, they still needed  _ some _ form of income to provide for the kids and, besides, they would get a  _ little _ bored without some work on the side), Sam had suggested the idea that they stick with small cases, petty crimes, etc., and Max agreed to it, as did the Commissioner.

Sam pressed his muzzle into the side of the lagomorph’s face, nuzzling his nose into it. “‘S not  _ really _ a hiatus,” he corrected.

“It’s certainly gonna be a lot more low-key than before.”

“It will be,” agreed Sam.

They were now reaching the level where their apartment’s door resided, and arrived just in time to see all of the pups sans Teddy, Frank and Cab sitting outside of the door, their tails wagging. The door’s lock audibly clicked, and the pups immediately got to their feet and rushed inside. As Sam stopped in front of the door, he and Max both saw Cab and Teddy climbing off of Frank’s back, having must have made a little tower to open the door from the inside. All of the pups were running up to one of the office’s filing cabinets, and yanking open the large bottom drawer. It held a bunch of paper scraps, which had been placed in there by the pups themselves to serve as their own little nesting spot. Already, they were climbing into it, piling on top of one another.

“Still gotta make sure we wash Cab,” Max reminded him.

Sam must not have heard - he had been distracted by the pups in the middle of his sentence, and so he’d been distracted when the lagomorph had spoken. So, instead of responding, he continued where he’d left off, “It’s better that way, though, y’know?”

Max knew what his partner had meant, but nonetheless gave an amused chuckle, and joked, “Better t’ be covered in sticky fruit punch? I doubt that.”

“No, bonehead,” Sam shot back, though it was soft, and clearly, he wasn’t aggravated by his husband’s statement, or his interrupting his thought. “I mean...we get t’ live forever, right? You’re basically an Elder God, and I’m just a ghost with a few extra funky features. If we screw things up on a case, it doesn’t matter. We just heal up, get back to our feet and do it again.”

“Mhm,” the lagomorph hummed, his pink eyes faintly glowing in the dark, looking up at Sam’s thoughtful expression with a look as though he could listen to his partner’s ramblings forever (or, at least, for the next fifteen minutes before he told Sam that his back was gonna cramp if he stayed in this position any longer).

“But with these guys…” Sam’s gaze turned to look at the children, who were now piled into the cabinet, their eyelids drooping with drowsiness. “We only have one chance t’ parent these guys. And they’ve already gone through so much...we can’t take those unnecessary risks anymore. We have t’ be there for them, no matter what.”

Max never had shared that conversation he’d had with Alan a while back to Sam, but evidently, it appeared that he didn’t have to. Somehow, in some way, the dog had also come to the same conclusion as his father that the best way to protect those kids was to keep the workload minimal. And with that conclusion, it guaranteed that Max’s promise would be kept. In a way, though, the fact that he never informed Sam of all the details of the talk with his father-in-law made him feel a little better about the dog’s decision - knowing that he’d made it without any pressure or seeds planted in his mind.

All the lagomorph could respond with was, “Yeah. Yeah, exactly.”

Sam’s gaze lingered on the pups, who were dozing off, before turning back to Max. His eyes grew half-lidded, a gentle smile spreading onto his features - an expression of pure, unfiltered adoration. “I love you, Max. I love them and you all so, so much.”

Max flashed his signature sharp-toothed smile, and leaned forward to press his lips to the dog’s. The kiss lingered for a moment or two, before they pulled away, exchanging their looks of endearment for one another. “ _ Te amo, Luciérnaga, mi amor. _ ”

The dog then finally took his beloved, and entered the office. He extended his leg, using his foot to close the office door behind him. The office door window now contained a logo of their usual brand, written in the same bubbly letters: SAM & MAX, FREELANCE DETECTIVES.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'd just like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas. Honestly, it feels kind of awesome to be able to post the final chapter of this fic on Christmas, it just feels like it's the nice, fluffy send-off that this semi-angsty and action-packed but otherwise fairly domestic fic deserves. Second, thank you so much to everybody who has taken the time to read this fic, left kudos, comments, etc. As always, it means a lot to me and I always appreciate it very much. It's your guys' positive feedback that encourages me to keep working hard. I ended up writing a majority of this during my first semester of university, which was no easy feat, but it was totally worth it.  
> Once again, special thanks to Callie for being part of this and generally just being a great friend. Fun fact; even though the pups came from a random dream I had, it was actually their idea to make them Sam and Max's kids. So technically, this fic wouldn't have existed without their input.
> 
> When I hopped into this fic immediately after finishing AW, the only thing I really had planned was to tell the story of how Sam and Max came to adopt these kids, as Callie and I had generated through many different conversations. Frankly, I was actually willing to end the story after Sam and Max had decided to adopt the pups, meaning this fic could've only been 10 chapters long. However, I knew that the pups deserved far more screen time than that, so I decided to fill most of this fic's space with just cute little ideas that Sam and Max would encounter with being new dads, resulting in this nice little mix of actual story and sort of a casual, domestic-ness. Heck, even the last bit with Kendra was something I threw in simply to tie the story together. By the end of the day, though, this was a cute fic to work on, and I'm really glad that I worked on it, and even more glad that people liked the pups as much as Callie and I do.
> 
> In terms of the future of the general AW series, I have been working on Mother Tongue after putting it on the backburner since March. The third chapter has had slow, but otherwise steady progress, and though I can't say when it'll be ready, just know that it'll be released the very moment that it's finished. Honestly, now that I've finished both AW and GTTD(AR), now's the perfect time for me to continue with MT since both of its sequels have teased at Maximus' and Sameth's stories. It seems only appropriate now for the rest of their story to be told (along with the stories of a few other characters that were brought up in AW, but we'll get to that when we get to that.)
> 
> Once again, thank you all for reading, and, once again, have a Merry Christmas!
> 
> -Kira


End file.
